Women's tennis takes down North Alabama

(Photo/Zenith Shrestha)After dropping the season opener to Mississippi State, the women's tennis team has won three of its last four games.Hanna CooperStaff Writer The Troy women’s tennis program picked up a 6-1 win over in-state foe North Alabama last Friday before seeing Sunday’s match canceled due to bad weather. The win over North Alabama gives the Trojans a winning record at 3-2 for the season. The doubles pair of Matea Mihaljevic and Shevita Aulana kicked off Friday’s efforts in the right direction for the Trojans by defeating Sydney Flesch and Nina Linke, 6-4. The team clinched the doubles points when Chunxi Guo and Tijana Svitlica downed Lee-Taylor Bishop and Kalais Going, 6-4. Troy took a 2-0 lead over North Alabama with Anastasiia Khrustaleva picking up a victory in No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-0. The second singles match that afternoon was Anastasiia Khokhlova taking on Linke in number two singles. Khokhlova took the match 6-0, 6-1, giving Troy a 3-0 lead. Guo clinched the match for the Trojans, picking up a 6-1, 6-2 win over Going. Troy’s winning streak continued with Shevita Aulana defeating Elise Sickle, 6-2, 6-3. In No. 1 singles, Mihaljevic faced off against Sydney Flesch in the closest match of the afternoon as Flesch pushed Mihaljevic to three sets. Mihaljevic came away with the win, 6-3, 2-6, 10-5. The Trojans’ only stumble came when Megan Humphreys of North Alabama toppled Svitlica, 7-5, 6-3. Troy was scheduled to play South Carolina Upstate, but with bad weather coming into Troy, the match was canceled. The Trojans will take a weekend off before returning to action on Feb. 29 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Troy will square off against Jackson State. The Trojans will then face Southern Miss on Sunday, March 1.