INDIANA, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the school year, dropping a 7-2 decision to Indiana (Pa.) in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action. The matchup featured the top two teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Atlantic Region poll; IUP is No. 1 and the Lakers are No. 2.

The host Crimson Hawks jumped ahead with all three doubles points and never looked back. The Lakers pulled within 3-2 on singles wins at Nos. 1 and 6 by Saioa Gomez de Segura and Athina Tsagkaraki, respectively, but IUP answered with four consecutive singles wins.

NCAA Division II-ranked 18th Gomez de Segura (No. 1 Atlantic singles) defeated Jarka Petercakova, 6-2, 6-2, while Tsagkaraki earned her win over Marian Valenzuela, 6-3, 6-1.

IUP struck back with singles wins by Nicole Beidacki at No. 4 and the clinching point by Julia Newman at No. 5. Beidacki (No. 10 Atlantic singles) defeated Mercyhurst's Ivona Plecevic, 6-4, 6-3, and Newman was a winner over Adina Spahalic, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).

The Lakers' No. 2 singles player, Kayla Frost (No. 2 Atlantic singles), matched up with another regionally-ranked player in Luise von Agris (No. 7 Atlantic singles). The contest went to von Agris, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

At No. 3 singles, Mercyhurst's Adrianna Jeffress (No. 3 Atlantic singles) fell to Katya Minchenkova in a tiebreaker, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-3).

For the Lakers (19-1, 4-1), it was their first loss of the 2017-18 school year. IUP (15-5, 6-0) clinched the PSAC West regular-season championship.

Gomez de Segura extended her individual win streak to 19 while Tsagkaraki claimed her 17th consecutive singles win. Spahalic (17) and Jeffress (nine) had lengthy winning streaks snapped. Singles records for each player are as follows: Gomez de Segura (33-2), Frost (24-6), Jeffress (27-4), Plecevic (23-5), Spahalic (20-3) and Tsagkaraki (20-4).

In doubles play, Frost and Jeffress lost their first match after a 14-win run.

Mercyhurst will return to action on Saturday with a PSAC West home match at Clarion.



IUP 7, Mercyhurst 2
DOUBLES
Petercakova/von Agris (IUP) def. Gomez de Segura/Spahalic, 8-1
Minchenkova/Beidacki (IUP) def. Jeffress/Frost, 9-7
Newman/Valenzuela (IUP) def. Plecevic/Tsagkaraki, 8-2
SINGLES
Gomez de Segura (M) def. Petercakova, 6-2, 6-2
von Agris (IUP) def. Frost, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Minchenkova (IUP) def. Jeffress, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-3)
Beidacki (IUP) def. Plecevic, 6-4, 6-3
Newman (IUP) def. Spahalic, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
Tsagkaraki (M) def. Valenzuela, 6-3, 6-1

Order of finish: 1,3,2...1,6,4,5,2,3