LYNCHBURG, Va. - Charleston Southern's season came to an end on Sunday afternoon as the Buccaneers fell to top seed and tournament host Liberty in the semifinal round of the 2016 Big South Women's Tennis Championships by Musco Sports Lighting, 4-0.
The Buccaneers (14-5) held the lead on singles courts 2 and 5, while Brianna Thompson held a 1-0 lead on court no. 3 when play was halted at the Cook Tennis Center. The Flames (15-9) took the doubles point and singles wins on courts 1, 4 and 6, to advance to Monday's Big South Championship match.
Sophie Cloessner and Valeria Koussenkova took the opening doubles match of the day on court no. 3, topping Anna Panchenko and Rebel Anderson, 6-0.
Liberty rallied back with a 6-1 win on court no. 2 as Maria Khval and Anna Dollar topped Kimberley Koerner and Annika Wagner. On court no. 1 in a battle between a pair of Big South First Team Doubles pairs, the Liberty duo of Valerie Thong and Evangeline Crist proved victorious over CSU's Nicolin Luecke and Brianna Thompson, 6-2.
The Flames added to their lead in singles play with Khval topping Luecke on court no. 1, 6-2, 6-0, to give Liberty the 2-0 lead. The lead stretched to 3-0 with the Flames' 6-0, 6-2 win on court no. 6 as Thong topped CSU's Chanel Bell.
The remaining four sets were closely contested before the Flames were able to close out the match on court no. 4. CSU's Koerner bounced back from a first set 6-4 defeat to even the match against Liberty's Belen Rivera, winning the second frame 6-4 to send the match into the third set. Rivera was victorious in the end, topping Koerner 6-1, to secure the Flames win.
On the unfinished courts, CSU's Valeria Koussenkova took the first set on court no. 5 over Liberty's Mariely Hassey, 7-5. Hassey rallied back with a 7-5 win on the second set, sending the match into the third frame. Koussenkova held the 1-0 lead in the third set when play was halted.
Sophie Cloessner held the 3-0 lead over Liberty's Anna Dollar in the third set on court no. 2 when play was halted. Dollar took the first set, 6-1, while Cloessner evened the match up with a 7-6 second set victory.
On court no. 3, Thompson took the 7-6 first set win over Crist to hold the 1-0 lead. The second set was tied 5-5 when play was halted.
