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Women’s tennis beats Oakland but struggles in loss to rival Butler

A split last week continued an inconsistent season for the Raiders.
The team played strong in a 6-1 win over Oakland on Friday. Alex Bastock, Masha Peresetsky, Amy Nini and Chelsea Girgash all won their matches in straight-sets. Liz Steingass did the same over Oakland’s Abbey Bates, but won 6-0, 6-0—a double-bagel.
The doubles teams swept their matches and closed out Wright State’s win. But the next day, they lost 5-2 to Butler.
Peresetsky fought for a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Stephanie McLoughlin, while teammate Nini won a tight 6-7, 6-4, 10-7 match against Cam Thompson. The Raiders, however, lost their other four singles matches and took only one match in doubles.
At 8-10, WSU sits fifth in the Horizon League. That standing represents progress for a team that started the season 0-5. Their play in the last few weeks, though, has been a mixture of wins and losses. Momentum proves elusive for a team trying to find its way in a strong conference.
Bastock, a freshman, continues to surprise. She’s 9-9 in her singles matches and forms one of the team’s best doubles pairs with Nini. Not bad for her first season in college tennis.
Still, the team is led by senior Peresetsky. With an 8-5 singles record, her leadership and play on the court proves invaluable for a young squad. In doubles, she’s teamed with Abby Lewis for a 7-7 record.
Lewis, Nini, Girgash and Kayla Tuscany provide a strong foundation for the Raiders. But each sits under .500 in singles. For the Raiders to make up ground on league-leading Illinois-Chicago and Cleveland State, those four players need to match the performances of Peresetsky and Bastock.
This weekend, the team has two more chances to improve. They play Green Bay Saturday before wrapping up against Milwaukee the next day.
With the Horizon League tournament around two weeks away, the Raiders hope to solve their inconsistency while they still have time.

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