NICHOLASVILLE, Ky.— The Montreat women's tennis team, ranked No. 10 in the NAIA, joined seven other schools from across the country for the National Indoor Invitational in Nicholasville, Ky. Montreat, pitted against three highly-ranked foes Thursday through Saturday, earned two victories to finish in third place and start the spring season at 2-1.
 
Montreat started off the National Indoor Invitational on Thursday with a 4-2 victory over the No. 12-ranked William Woods University Owls. The Cavaliers claimed the doubles point to start the competition thanks to wins in the first and third pairings. The duo of Stephanie Petit and Valerie Quiceno Ibarguen seized a narrow win over Ana Zavala and Hanna Lindeboom, 7-6 (7-4), while Sofia Hernandez Mera and Nicole Bueno teamed up for the 6-4 triumph over Hannah Meyer and Allison Kowalke.
 
Off to the 1-0 lead, the Cavaliers continued to push the envelope with speedy wins in the top two singles matches. Petit, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) top-ranked NAIA women's singles player, sprinted past Zavala, 6-2, 6-1. Quiceno Ibarguen, in similar fashion to her doubles partner, dispatched of Marta Calvo in two sets, 6-1, 6-0.
 
William Woods applied some pressure on the Cavaliers, claiming victories in the No. 4 and No. 5 slots to draw within 3-2. The Owls also held a lead in the third set of the No. 6 singles match, but it never got the chance to reach its conclusion. Instead, Bueno captured a thrilling two-set victory with two tiebreaks, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7). With the triumph in the No. 3 singles match, the Cavaliers staked their claim to a 4-2 victory, earning a spot in the semifinal round against the fourth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats.
 
The Cavaliers squared off against the hosts on Friday and gave them a run for their money. Indiana Wesleyan, which hadn't lost a single team point in 22 matches entering Friday, faced a tough challenge in the Montreat Cavaliers; however, the Wildcats took the critical doubles point and a few tight singles matches to defeat the Cavs, 4-2.
 
IWU took the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles pairings, 6-4 and 6-3, respectively, to start the morning. Despite the early deficit, Montreat responded with big-time wins in the top two singles pairings to put pressure on the fourth-ranked Wildcats. Petit bested Maddie Bemisderfer in a closely-knit two-set battle, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Quiceno Ibarguen also seized victory in her singles matchup, winning in three sets over Lena Golz (6-3, 3-6, 6-3).
 
The Wildcats claimed two-set triumphs in the No. 4 (6-3, 6-3) and No. 6 (6-4, 7-5) singles pairings. While the No. 5 singles matchup was knotted at five in a decisive third set, it never had to go the distance. Indiana Wesleyan's Ashlee Fisk needed all three sets to take the No. 3 match and propel the Wildcats past the Cavaliers and into the final round of the National Indoor Invitational.
 
Defeat meant the Cavaliers were set to face off against a familiar foe on Saturday in the third-place match: the No. 5-ranked Union College Bulldogs.
 
Saturday started off well for the Cavaliers, as the reigning AAC Tournament champions claimed the doubles point over the Bulldogs. Union then made the decision to pull three of its athletes out of the singles competition, which resulted in the Cavaliers taking an insurmountable and ultimately victorious 4-0 edge.
 
Montreat, which had entered the National Indoor Invitational as the four-seed, left Nicholasville, Ky. with two top-12 wins and a third-place finish.
 
The next Montreat women's tennis match is scheduled for Thursday at NCAA Division I Radford University. First serve is slated for 3:00 p.m. in Radford, Va.
 
No. 10 Montreat College 4, No. 12 William Woods University 2
Doubles Competition:
No. 1: Stephanie Petit/Valerie Quiceno Ibarguen (MC) def. Ana Zavala/Hanna Lindeboom (WWU) 7-6 (7-4)
No. 2: Marta Calvo/Rukshika Wijesooriya (WWU) def. Vaishnavi Venkatesh/Sofia Rojas Osorio (MC) 6-1
No. 3: Sofia Hernandez Mera/Nicole Bueno (MC) def. Hannah Meyer/Allison Kowalke (WWU) 6-4
Singles Competition:
No. 1: Stephanie Petit (MC) def. Ana Zavala (WWU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 2: Valerie Quiceno Ibarguen (MC) def. Marta Calvo (WWU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 3: Nicole Bueno (MC) def. Hanna Lindeboom (WWU) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7)
No. 4: Rukshika Wijesooriya (WWU) def. Sofia Rojas Osorio (MC) 6-0, 6-0
No. 5: Alessa Cremer (WWU) def. Vaishnavi Venkatesh (MC) 6-2, 6-4
No. 6: Sofia Hernandez Mera (MC) vs. Lilla Komiszar (WWU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-4 unf.
 
No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan University 4, No. 10 Montreat College 2
Doubles Competition:
No. 1: Maddie Bemisderfer/Lena Golz (IWU) def. Stephanie Petit/Valerie Quiceno Ibarguen (MC) 5-3 unf.
No. 2: Thais Mendez/Mel Dveksler (IWU) def. Vaishnavi Vinkatish/Mariam Bayatyan (MC) 6-4
No. 3: Aynara Ferraz/Emily Connolley (IWU) def. Nicole Bueno/Sofia Hernandez Mera (MC) 6-3
Singles Competition:
No. 1: Stephanie Petit (MC) def. Maddie Bemisderfer (IWU) 7-5, 7-6 (4)
No. 2: Valerie Quiceno Ibarguen (MC) def. Lena Golz (IWU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 3: Ashlee Fisk (IWU) def. Nicole Bueno (MC) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
No. 4: Thais Mendez (IWU) def. Mariam Bayatyan (MC) 6-3, 6-3
No. 5: Vaishnavi Vinkatish (MC) vs. Aynara Ferraz (IWU) 4-6, 6-3, 5-5 unf.
No. 6: Melanie Dveksler (IWU) def. Sofia Hernandez Mera (MC) 6-4, 7-5