SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The #50 Union College women's tennis team took a 2-1 lead in doubles play and then settled for a split in singles competition to pull out a hard-fought 5-4 victory over Ithaca College in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon at Sportime Tennis Club.
 
Sophomores Chara Meidani and Skylar Semon combined to play a role in four of the five Union (7-3, 2-0 Liberty League) victories on the afternoon, with both players winning in singles and doubles play. Senior Gracie Nicol, sophomore Claire Langille and first-year Luisa Arizpe-Sierra added one win apiece to the ledger.
 
Union started the day with two crucial doubles wins to take an lead into singles after Ithaca (5-6, 0-1 Liberty League) earned the first point at second doubles. Langille and Semon won the first four games on the way to an 8-4 victory over Ava Casell-Lepetina and Maddie Sutro at the third flight to knot the score. Nicol and Meidani followed up with a key win at first doubles, coming back from an early break to win four straight games as part of their 8-5 victory.
 
The Bombers evened the score with a win at first singles, but Union responded with wins at the next three flights to clinch the match. Meidani quickly dispatched Lauren Rodriguez at second singles by a 6-1, 6-3 score, and that was followed closely by Arizpe-Sierra's pair of 6-2 third-singles sets over Kendall Curley. Semon had a huge win at fourth singles for the eventual clincher, coming back from 2-5 in the first set and 0-3 in the second in a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Sabrina Cheung.
 
Langille and junior Gabby Gatto both came up just short in the bottom two flights as well for Union, with Gatto dropping a 4-6, 6-4, (10-6) match to Casell-Lepetina at fifth singles and Langille suffering a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) loss to Sutro at the sixth flight.
 
Union will be back in action tomorrow with another big conference match against William Smith College beginning at 2 p.m. at Sportime Tennis Club.