Lee Barnard caps riveting tennis victory

Saturday, February 20

Murfreesboro, TN

1 PM

Middle Tennessee

Chattanooga

2/20/2021 4:35:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

Blue Raiders deal Chattanooga first setback

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After enduring an intense winter storm throughout the week, the Middle Tennessee women's tennis team turned up the heat to capture a riveting 4-3 win against Chattanooga at the Adams Tennis Center Saturday.

Lee Barnard sealed a remarkable comeback winning a three-set thriller at No. 1 singles to send the Blue Raiders (3-5) to victory while dealing Chattanooga (5-1) its first loss in six outings.

"Our young ladies hung in there and battled to get a hard-earned win," Middle Tennessee head coach Tayo Bailey-Duvall said. "Four of the six singles matches went to a third set so it took the efforts of every player to get this win against a good Chattanooga team. I'm really proud of the way our team battled today."

After dropping the doubles point, Middle Tennessee rallied with singles wins on courts 4, 5 and 3 to roar to a 3-1 advantage; however, Chattanooga evened the score with narrow wins courts 2 and 6.

All eyes were on court 1 where Barnard and Chattanooga's Jessie Young were in the midst of a back-and-forth match. Barnard won the first set 6-4 but dropped the second set 6-7 (4-7) to set up a winner-take-all third set. Playing at No. 1 each player put forth valiant efforts before Barnard eventually secured a 6-4 win to take the set and match, propelling Middle Tennessee to victory.

Muskan Gupta got Middle Tennessee on the board with straight-set 6-4, 6-4 win against Bogdana Zaporozhets to even the score 1-1.

Love-Star Alexis gave the Blue Raiders a 2-1 lead with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 win against Callie Billman at No. 5. Zani Barnard also had a gut-wrenching victory at No. 3, using three sets to capture a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory and push the Middle Tennessee advantage to 3-1.

Lidia Burrows and Noelle Mauro, playing at No. 2 and 6, respectively, pushed their opponents to the limit before falling in three sets as Chattanooga fought back to tie the score, 3-3.

Middle Tennessee returns to action when it travels to Murray State Sunday.