MILWAUKEE – A strong showing in doubles play was not enough to carry into the rest of the day as the Milwaukee women's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at River Glen Elite.
 
"It was awesome and to do it in the fashion we did in fighting off eight match points," head coach Mark Goldin said about the doubles result. "All we talked about with the recent injuries is to only think about what we can control and give ourselves the best chance to win and I thought we did just that and it showed."
 
The Panthers (7-15, 1-5 Horizon League) came back to win a thrilling doubles point to open the contest. The Norse (7-9, 3-3 Horizon League) had a response in singles, outlasting decisions at No. 2 and No. 1 to hold on for the victory.
 
"It was decided by a few points and it's been unfortunate that we've had a few now that haven't gone our way in the end," Goldin said. "But, it is a result we can live with because we felt like we did everything in our control. I am proud of the team for doing that and now our focus is Oakland next week in the first round. We want to get everyone healthy and ready to make a run in the tournament. The timing with people coming back from injury is working out where I feel like if we can get our top lineup out there Friday, we can make a strong run in the postseason."
 
Elisa Rubio and Emilia Durska started things out strong, steamrolling to a 6-0 decision at No. 2 doubles.
 
From there, it was action-packed. At No. 3, Giorgia Cavestro and Honoka Yamashita put on an impressive comeback before falling. Down 5-1 and facing triple-match match point, the duo battled back to 5-3 before running out of time.
 
Nadiia Konieva and Sara Simonova pulled out the improbable decision at No. 1 to get the team the 1-0 advantage. Down 4-1 and 5-2, they held off numerous match points to get to 5-5 and to 6-6. From there it was all MKE, jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker before taking the 7-6 (7-3) decision against Mariajose Hernandez and Darya Gneidina.
 
NKU responded well in singles, taking the first three wins of the afternoon to grab the 3-1 lead. Simonova finished strong at No. 4 and made it 3-2, earning the 6-4, 6-3 victory over Catharina Cardosa.
 
It came down to the final two courts of action, with the Panthers taking the first sets of each. The Norse was able to mount comebacks in both to finish off the win.
 
Konieva rallied from down 3-0 in the third set to get to 3-3 and 4-4 before Ashlee Fisk outlasted for the 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 result.
 
The program also honored Giorgia Cavestro following the match with "Senior Day" festivities.
 
The Panthers finished as the No. 6 seed in the conference and will advance to the Horizon League Championships. That event will get underway April 25 at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
 
Northern Kentucky 5, Milwaukee 2
Singles competition
1. Ashlee Fisk (NKU) def. Nadiia Konieva (MKE) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
2. Darya Gneidina (NKU) def. Emilia Durska (MKE) 3-6, 6-0, 7-5
3. Ana Isabela Serrano (NKU) def. Elisa Rubio (MKE) 6-1, 6-2
4. Sara Simonova (MKE) def. Catharina Cardosa (NKU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Mariajose Hernandez (NKU) def. Honoka Yamashita (MKE) 6-4, 6-2
6. Alyssa Cameron (NKU) def. Giorgia Cavestro (MKE) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Nadiia Konieva/Sara Simonova (MKE) def. Mariajose Hernandez/Darya Gneidina (NKU) 7-6 (7-3)
2. Emilia Durska/Elisa Rubio (MKE) def. Catharina Cardosa/Alyssa Cameron (NKU) 6-0
3. Ashlee Fisk/Ana Isabela Serrano (NKU) def. Giorgia Cavestro/Honoka Yamashita (MKE) 6-3