Senior Nina Moravek defeated North Central College in doubles and singles, not letting her opponents win a single set. (Rachel Benitez-Borrego | Staff Photographer)

The No. 2 women’s and No. 11 men’s tennis teams finished the weekend with only one lost match against North Central College at WashU’s very own Tao Tennis Center with a final combined score of 13-1.

Women’s tennis

On Saturday, April 18, the women’s team faced North Central at home. In a strong performance, the Bears finished the day with a 6-1 victory, handing the Cardinals their second loss in a row and seventh of the season.

In No. 1 doubles, senior Eliana Hanna and sophomore Ally Lin won 7-5. Lin went on to win UAA Athlete of the Week. 

The momentum continued for the Bears when sophomore Sam Slowik and first-year Lily Brecknock took out their opponents with a 6-1 victory in No. 2 doubles. To close out doubles, sophomore Chloe Brissett and senior Nina Moravek shut out the Cardinals in the No. 3 matchup, 6-0.

All six singles matches finished in two sets, with a combined seven points scored against the Bears and two shutouts for Moravek and Brecknock’s matches. 

Hanna played a No. 1 singles match against her opponent that was cut short due to opponent retirement, causing Hanna to win by default. 

During the No. 2 singles, sophomore Caitlin Bui defeated her opponent, scoring 6-0 in the first set and 6-1 in the second. Lin won 6-1 and 6-2 in the No. 3 singles. The No. 4 singles match between senior Amber Edmonds and her opponent resulted in another win for the Bears, with a final match score of 6-0 and 6-2 in her two sets, respectively. 

Junior Nathan Tam and sophomore Drew Koval celebrate their No. 2 doubles victory. (Bobby Kaplan | Staff Photographer)

Men’s tennis

Men’s tennis began their matches shortly after the women’s and had a strong showing against the Cardinals ahead of the UAA championships with two singles matches going to three sets — ending the day with a 7-0 victory. 

In No. 1 doubles, WashU senior Colin Fox and first-year Jeremy Sieben took the first win of the day for the men with a score of 6-3. Sophomore Drew Koval and junior Nathan Tam took No. 2 doubles and also won with a score of 6-3. Finally, senior Colin Scruggs and first-year Ethan Wu competed in No. 3 doubles and secured the final doubles victory of the day with a score of 6-2 against their opponents. 

In singles, despite an overall strong performance, the Bears had to fight for every point against the Cardinals. Scruggs won his match in two sets, both with a score of 6-3. Sieben went to three sets in the No. 2 singles match. Sieben won the first set 6-4 but fell behind in the second set, only managing 5 to his opponent’s 7 points. However, he managed to finish the match strong, winning the final set 1-0.

In the No. 3 singles match, Fox won his match in two sets, 6-4 and 6-1, respectively. Sophomore Avi Mahajan also beat his opponent at No. 4 singles in two dominant sets, finishing 6-3 and 6-1. Tam finished up the No. 5 singles match with a score of 6-3 in the first set and 7-6 in the second. 

Junior Daniel Radke took on the No. 6 doubles match against North Central, which lasted three sets and ultimately came down to a tiebreaker. The first set went to Radke with a 7-6 score, but Radke lost the second set 4-6. Nevertheless, he managed to come out with the victory in a 13-11 score in the tie-breaker match. 

After a strong end to the regular season, both teams will compete in the University Athletics Association championships next weekend, April 23-26, in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The women’s team will attempt to improve their 2025 achievement of third place and the men’s team, fifth. The men’s team, who are seeded fourth, will have a tough matchup against the five seed, No. 14 Emory University while the women’s team, as first overall, are playing the eight seed, University of Rochester.