Saturday, 02/28/2009

KALAMAZOO --  The No. 61 Western Michigan women's tennis team came from behind to defeat Rice, 4-3, on Saturday at West Hills Athletic Club.

For the second time this season, junior Emily Dudzik was the last player on the court and emerged victorious to clinch the victory for WMU (10-3) with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles. She also helped WMU defeat Purdue with a dramatic last match victory earlier this season.

The Broncos won all three doubles matches to take the early lead with senior Kerstin Pahl and sophomore Amanda Moccia winning 8-2 at No. 3, while junior Yumi Matsuto and Dudzik won 8-5 at No. 1 and senior Ashley Moccia and freshman Jenny Nalepa won 8-5 at No. 2.

The Broncos fell behind, 2-1, after the first two singles matches finished, but Pahl evened the score with a 7-6, 6-2 victory at No. 1.

The Owls came back to win the next match, but freshman Rachel Denny came from 5-4 down in the third set to win 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 at No. 5 and set up Dudzik's clincher at No. 2.