SAN ANTONIO — The Southwestern University Pirates women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season, falling 6-3 to the Washington University in St. Louis Bears in a neutral site match at Trinity University. 

Southwestern dropped all three doubles matches with the tandem of Mary Cardone and Mariana Quetzeri losing 8-7 in a tie-breaker. Sara Le was slowed by an injury in her double match alongside Nina Elez, falling 8-4. 

"The women played fearless tennis and I'm extremely pleased with how they competed," Head Coach Billy Porter said. "We lost a couple of tie-breakers that swung the match their way but we will only grow from it.

"Sara tweaked her knee mid-match but I love the way she battled through it."

Cardone took the first set in singles competition against Ally Persky 6-2 and recovered from a 6-4 defeat in the second set to take the third 10-7 from the No. 1 spot. In the second spot, Esther Bowers took a hard-fought first set 7-5 and closed out her match with a 6-3 second set. 

Three of the next four went three sets with Stephanie Bartusov picking put the Pirates' third win from the sixth spot (7-6, 1-6, 12-10). The Pirates will play on the road at Schreiner tomorrow at noon and against Sul Ross State at 4:30 p.m. in Kerrville. 

Washington 6, Southwestern 3

Singles 

Mary Cardone (SU) def. Ally Persky (WASHU) 6-2, 4-6, 10-7

Esther Bowers (SU) def. Ashley Lessen (WASHU) 7-5, 6-3

Divya Sharma (WASHU) def. Mariana Quetzeri (SU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-2

Brigitte Hodge (WASHU) def. Nina Elez 6-1, 6-1

Grace Hederick (WASHU) def. Cecile Wilde (SU) 3-6, 7-6, 10-5

Stephanie Bartusov (SU) def. Zoe Park (WASHU) 7-6, -6, 12-10

Doubles

Ally Persky / Lisa Chionis (WASHU) def. Esther Bowers / Cecile Wilde 8-6

Laurel Wanger / Brigitte Hodge (WASHU) def. Mary Cardone / Mariana Quetzeri (SU) 8-7

Divya Sharma / Sanja Tripathy (WASHU) def. Nina Elez / Sara Le (SU) 8-4