Greenville, N.C. - Gardner-Webb's women's tennis team fought despite being a couple players down in Saturday's match at East Carolina, but the Pirates were too much for the Runnin' Bulldogs in a 5-0 loss for GWU.
The loss moves Gardner-Webb to 1-4 on the season while East Carolina improves to 6-2 with the win.
GWU's lone win on the day came during doubles play. At No. 1 doubles, senior Erica White (Charleston, W.Va.) teamed up with junior Jenny Lunde (Oslo, Norway) to record an 8-5 win against ECU's Melis Tanik/Yilian Zhang tandem.
The Pirates sealed the doubles point, however, earning an 8-3 win at the No. 2 doubles slot and winning No. 3 doubles by default to go up 1-0 overall.
Tenik would win at No. 1 for the home-standing Pirates, as would Neena Wanko at the No. 3 singles spot.
Freshman Rokia Sacko (Montreal, Canada) played evenly with Danielle Terpko at No. 4 singles, but Terpko was able to make the big shots when she needed and came out with a 7-5, 6-4 for ECU.
At No. 2 singles, sophomore Yasmin Doost (Bray, England) fought back from a quick one set deficit to make it close at No. 2 singles. Ultimately, Zhang prevailed in that match, as Doost dropped a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7, 1-0 match.
GWU plays in its Big South opener on Tuesday versus Presbyterian at the Webb Tennis Complex.
