It was a big week for West Liberty tennis as both the mens’ and womens’ teams matched up against tough opponents on the road. Both teams entered the week with winning records, with the men’s team sitting at 9-2, and the women’s team sitting at 4-2 on the season.

The week kicked off with the WLU women’s tennis team facing off against West Virginia Wesleyan at the Wheeling Park Bubble in Wheeling, W.Va. The Lady Hilltoppers had previously dominated the Bobcats in tennis, leading the all-time series 8-2 before their match on Saturday, March 19. West Liberty continued their winning streak over Wesleyan, winning in all three doubles matches. The Toppers saw much of the same in their singles matches, with Evelina Martirosyan, Emma Arnal, Gemma Cliffe, Nathalia Valencia and Jaqueline Pena-Aceves all winning their matches in a sweep. West Liberty cruised to a 6-1 victory to improve to 5-2 on the season.

On Tuesday, March 22, both the men’s and women’s teams traveled to Washington, Pa. to take on Mercyhurst University at Washington Park. The men entered play 9-2 on the season, with Mercyhurst’s men’s team sitting at 5-7 with three straight wins. The Hilltoppers started off strong, earning the doubles point with wins in two of three doubles matches as Nevio Dux and Anton Schulz took their match 6-2 and Isfandiyor Makhumudov and Zarion Jones won their match 6-4. After a victory by Moritz Erpel in the first singles match, the tides turned in favor of Mercyhurst as Schulz, Makhumudov and Gianluca Gerndt were each defeated in their matches. Dux earned a victory in two sets but it wasn’t enough to propel the Hilltoppers to victory as Jones was beaten in the final match, giving the victory to Mercyhurst, 4-3, ending the Toppers winning streak at two and dropping them to 9-3 on the season.

The women fared better against Mercyhurst on Tuesday, whose women’s team entered play on a three-match winning streak. The Toppers took all three doubles matches, two of which went to tiebreakers. Their momentum carried over into the singles matches, as Martirosyan, Arnal and Cliffe each swept their opponents. The doubles team of Valencia and Pena-Aceves were each defeated, but it wasn’t enough for Mercyhurst to emerge victorious as Shchoma took a dominant victory in the final match of the day, giving West Liberty a 5-2 victory to move to 6-2 on the season.