SAVANNAH, Ga. – Freshmen Ekaterina Vorobeva and Shakendra Alston both picked up singles wins as the Savannah State University women's tennis team (0-7) fell to Longwood University (3-2) 5-2 Tuesday at Tiger Tennis Courts.
 
Vorobeva lost the first set against Yulia Almiron 6-2 and battled back to tie the set by winning the second set 6-4 to force a tiebreaker set at the No. 2 singles position.  In the tiebreaker set, the Naberezhnye, Russia native won 10-4 to win the set and to give the Lady Tigers the first point.
 
Alston also lost the first set to Julia Candiotto 6-2, but bounced back to win the second set 6-3 to force a third set at the No. 5 singles position.  Since the match was not decided before the third set started, the full set was played, and the Rock Hill, S.C., native won the set 6-4 to give the Lady Tigers the second point.
 
Longwood won all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead.  LU's doubles duo of Jamie Breunig and Marija Venta defeated SSU's doubles team of junior Sansriti Ranjan and freshman Muskaan Ranjan 6-1 at the No. 1 position and clinched the doubles point after Tanja Skalda and Candiotto defeated freshman Sofia Shut'ko and senior Rachida El Kateb 6-2 at the No. 3 position.
 
The Lancers won the final doubles match at the No. 2 position after Almiron and Kaori Terunuma defeated Vorobeva and Alston 6-3.
 
Longwood took a 2-0 lead after Breunig defeated Muskaan Ranjan 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 3 singles position and took a 3-0 lead after Skalda defeated El Kateb 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 6 singles position.
 
The Lancers clinched the match after Venta defeated Shut'ko 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 1 singles position, but Vorobeva's win cut the lead to 4-1. 
 
Alston's win cut the LU's lead to 4-2, but in the final match, Sansriti Ranjan won the first set 7-5 against Terunuma, but fell in the second set 6-3 to force a tiebreaker set.  In that set, Sansriti Ranjan fell 13-11 to give LU the three point win.
 
The Lady Tigers return to the road traveling to Macon, Ga., Wednesday to face Mercer University at 4 p.m.
 
Longwood 5, Savannah State 2
Singles
1. Marija Venta (LU) d. Sofia Shut'ko (SSU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Ekaterina Vorobeva (SSU) d. Yulia Almiron (LU) 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (4)
3. Jamie Breunig (LU) d. Muskaan Ranjan (SSU) 6-0, 6-0
4. Kaori Terunuma (LU) d. Sansriti Ranjan (SSU) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (11)
5. Shakendra Alston (SSU) d. Julia Candiotto (LU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Tanja Skalda (LU) d. Rachida El Kateb (SSU) 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish (3,6,1,2,5,4)
 
Doubles
1. Marija Venta/Jamie Breunig (LU) d. Sansriti Ranjan/Muskaan Ranjan (SSU) 6-1
2. Yulia Almiron/Kaori Terunuma (LU) d. Ekaterina Vorobeva/Shakendra Alston (SSU) 6-3
3. Tanja Skalda/Julia Candiotto (LU) d. Sofia Shut'ko/Rachida El Kateb (SSU) 6-2
Order of Finish (1,3,2)
 
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