By Jacob Norling
March 13, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Women's Tennis battled NCAA Division I Bucknell on Wednesday, and ultimately fell 6-1 to the visiting Bison. The day began with the Bison taking all three matches during doubles.
 
On one, Bucknell's Whitney King and Abby Platt handled Francesca Aguirre and Olivia Madarang (6-1), and on two, Anna Lajos and Mirra Manalov dispatched Sophia Ostovany and Sabina Salva (6-3). Westmont's best fight came on three, where Justie Spitzer and Liska Knight fell 6-4 to Madi Sebulsky and Caroline Marcus.
 
In singles, a trio of Warriors pushed their matches to three sets, but only one of them was able to finish the job.
 
On one, Aguirre bounced back from a 7-5 loss to King by winning the second set 6-1. However, King was able to respond with a 6-2 win in the third to take the match. On six, Knight also pushed her match to a third set, as she followed up a 6-1 loss with a 6-2 win to force a post-clinch tiebreaker. In the end, however, Sebulsky outlasted Knight 12-10 in the third.
 
Westmont's lone win once again came on five, where Spitzer won her first set 7-5 against Kate Novak. Novak narrowly snuck passed Spitzer in a second-set tiebreaker by a score of 7-6 (6), which led to another post-clinch tiebreaker in the third.
 
In the tiebreaker, Spitzer defeated Novak 10-6 to get the Warriors on the board.
 
"This is one of the matches I've been most proud of this season," said Westmont head coach Cade Pierson. "It's weird to say you're proud of a loss, but comparing it to others, we're getting much closer. Days like today help build the confidence of our team to let them know we're right there.
 
"Obviously, Justie's win was great, and it was also great seeing Frenchy get it to three. She's had a lot of tough matches where she loses the first and sort of drops off in the second, but this time she fought back. Liska played really well, too. She was playing confidently, and if she can continue to play like that she's just going to continue getting better.
 
"I was also proud of the day Sophia competed today. She did a great job of defending, and figuring out what was working, which is something we talk about a lot. I left this match feeling confident."
 
Westmont will now hit the road for a long weekend in the Bay Area, with matches scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before coming home.
 
"That'll be a lot of tennis," said Pierson. "There's a few PacWest teams we're really excited to play and I hope we can give our best effort to. We're in a good position for this weekend. I'm hoping to see us discover more of who we are on-court, win or lose."