BELTON, Texas - Despite dropping two of their three doubles matches to open Southwestern's women's tennis dual meet against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Thursday, the Pirates rallied in singles action to win 5-4.

The Crusaders jumped out to an early lead with doubles victories. Mary Pennington and Lali Satyavada secured the only doubles win for the Pirates as they defeated Long/Ramos in the third flight 8-6. Southwestern was in the hunt in the other matches but couldn't pull off the wins as Aarhus/Aarhus defeated Victoria DeLeon and Jessica Gaines in #1 doubles 8-4 while Emily Gutzmer and Sara Fitzsimmons narrowly fell to Knight/Everett 8-6.

DeLeon set the tone for the Pirates as singles action got underway by defeating Megan Aarhus in flight one singles 6-3, 6-3. Gaines and Pennington dropped their singles matches 6-0, 6-1 and 6-3, 7-6 respectively in #2 and #3 singles but Southwestern regrouped and won the final three matches, securing the wins. Satyavada easily handled Long 6-0, 6-1 in the third slot, Gutzmer won 6-4, 6-3 over Knight to tie the match and Fitzsimmons rounded out the victory by defeating Ramos 6-3, 6-3.

The Pirates look to continue their storng play as they remain on the road for a dual meet at McMurry University in Abilene on Friday.