The Charlotte women's tennis team had a historic week, handling the University of Memphis 6-1 on Wednesday, March 8, before welcoming No. 41 ranked Penn State University on Saturday, March 11, 2023, in a tight match that ended with Charlotte securing the best win in program history.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are not only Charlotte's fourth-highest-ranked opponent in program history but are also the third Power-5 conference member Charlotte has played at home this season, the most the program has ever faced in a season.
Against Memphis
In the 49ers' first outdoor home match of the season, No. 30 Charlotte took down the 4-10 Memphis Tigers in a 6-1 victory, pushing the their winning streak to six consecutive match victories.
The Tigers' Monique Woog was the only Memphis player to steal a win in singles, defeating Charlotte senior Margaux Maquet in a close third-set tiebreaker.
Charlotte cleared all five other singles matches and went 2-1 in doubles, with Emma Wilkins and Lucie Petruzelova taking down Memphis in their doubles match 6-2, as well as senior duo Lucia Quiterio and Maquet blowing past Memphis in their doubles match and matching Wilkins and Petruzelova's score exactly.
Quiterio, Wilkins, Petruzelova and Lucia Aranda all turned in undefeated performances against Memphis, as the 49ers remain undefeated at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex.
Against Penn State
After going 1-2 in doubles matches, No. 30 ranked Charlotte shot out to a 4-0 start in singles matches and held on to win 4-3 against No. 41 ranked Penn State, securing their biggest-ranked-win in program history.
The dominating win versus Penn State marks seven consecutive wins for the Green and White, and 8-0 at home.
The decorated senior duo of Kaavya Sawhney and Ruxi Schech picked up career win No. 55 in Charlotte's lone doubles victory. Sawhney, Maquet and Petruzelova each picked up decisive singles match wins. Quiterio secured a victory in her singles match in the third-set tiebreaker, clinching the historic win for Charlotte.
After a brief celebration, the 49ers and Nittany Lions decided to play out the last two matches, both of which Penn State collected wins in.
Sophomore Petruzelova continues her conquest in recent matches, winning four of her last five doubles matches and all eight of her singles matches.
Next up
After putting such a strong performance against a ranked opponent, Charlotte must ready to face another ranked opponent in conference opponent North Texas University.
No. 69-ranked North Texas will come to the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex on Friday, March 17, to kick off Conference-USA play for the 49ers.