In the squad’s season-opening match on Wednesday at the Woodruff P.E. Center, the third-ranked Emory University women’s tennis team played Georgia State University close throughout with a strong effort, but ultimately fell short to the NCAA Division I squad, 6-3.

The Eagles and the Panthers were evenly matches in all three doubles matches, each of which were decided by two games or less.  The Eagles’ one doubles victory came from their second-doubles pairing of sophomore Jordan Wylie and freshman Gabrielle Clark, who came away with a 9-7 win over Katerina Gresova and Maryna Kozachenko.  However, in the first doubles match, junior Zahra Dawson and senior Lorne McManigle fell 8-6 to Kir Kemp and Tereza Lerova, and freshmen Taylor Brandt and Brenna Kelly dropped a narrow 9-8 (7-2) decision to Othilia Lindqvist and Vi Truong.

Dawson would earn a victory for Emory in singles play, coming from behind to defeat Martina Ondrackova, her fourth-singles counterpart, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.  Brandt would also earn a three-set victory, claiming a 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 win over Othilia Lindqvist in the sixth singles match.

Clark would battle in the first singles match, winning the first set 6-2, before dropping the next set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-4), and the following 7-5.  McManigle, Wylie, and freshman Malavika Padmanabhan would suffer losses in the second, third and fifth singles matches, respectively.

With the loss, Emory fell to 0-1 on the campaign, while Georgia State improved to 5-0 on the season with the victory.  The Eagles will return to action this weekend, traveling to Montgomery, AL on Sunday for a double-header against the Aubrn University Montgomery and Huntingdon College, starting at 1:00 PM.