STEUBENVILLE – The Lady Barons took to their home courts one final time in their unofficial spring season, when they fell 9-0 to visiting Grove City on Tuesday afternoon. The match marked the final home competition for the team's lone senior, Emmy Mathias.
The ladies opened doubles play just after warm-ups concluded at 3 p.m. At No. 1 doubles, junior Maria Binette paired with Mathias on the first court. The duo's chemistry couldn't translate into games, where despite close points they fell 8-0.
Juniors Julia Razook and Taranee Karimpour anchored the No. 2 doubles spot, where close competition in the match's early goings couldn't translate to games when it mattered. The pair found themselves on the short end of a 9-1 defeat.
At the No. 3 doubles spot, Anna Maria Haddad and Natalia Andreu, two new additions to the Lady Barons' squad, surrendered an 8-3 loss on the third court, in a match that nevertheless saw the ladies find their footing and enjoy their first matches in a Franciscan uniform.
Down 3-0 after the conclusion of doubles play, the Lady Barons took the courts for the onset of singles.
After Razook went down 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 2 singles spot, Karimpour pushed her No. 3 singles opponent to the limit, one court over. She came up just four points short in a tiebreaker to decide the first set, and her Grove City counterpart earned just enough separation to register a 6-3 second set victory.
In her final home match, senior captain Emmy Mathias made use of the entire court in a 6-1, 6-2 loss. Consistent drop shots and deep groundstrokes made for close points in the loss.
Andreu came up short in her first Franciscan singles match, 6-0, 6-1, after which point eyes turned to the No. 1 singles court, where Binette earned two consecutive chances at a set tiebreaker. She fell short in each tiebreaker, giving her Grove City opponent the 7-6,7-6 win, in what was nonetheless an impressive showing from the junior.
Smart tennis gave Haddad chances at a first set that ultimately went 6-4 in favor of her No. 5 singles opponent. She surrendered the second set 6-1, when her opponent pulled away after two breaks of serve.
The match proved the only spring match for the Lady Barons; they will shortly open competition in the first round of the NCAA tournament; the date, time, and location for that match are TBD.
