WACO, Texas — The Southwestern women's tennis team went down to the wire against the NCAA Division II Texas-Tyler Patriots, losing 4-3 in their season opener. 

Southwestern showcased its improved doubles, taking lines 2 and 3 to earn the doubles point per NCAA Division II scoring. Texas-Tyler's Delara Zamani and Leony Deutschmann earned an 8-2 victory over Alli Ziehm and Emma Kesterson in line 1, but Nina Mitrofanova and Lydia Lee defeated Brooklyn Ross and Kanika Sivaraman 8-7, followed by another 8-7 win by Taylor Despriet and Lauren Chisholm over Chloe Diz and Chloe Chawner. 

"Winning not one, but two tiebreaks at No. 2 and 3 gave us momentum going into singles," Southwestern head tennis coach Billy Porter says. 

Southwestern's Nina Mitrofanova took a 6-1, 6-3 loss -in line 1 to Zamani. Kesterson was defeated by 6-3, 7-5 in line 2 to Ross, the No. 12-ranked singles player in the South Central Region, in line 2. Taylor Despriet picked up a singles win in line 3, defeating Tanvikhaa Saravanan 6-1, 6-2. Deutschmann, the No. 15-ranked singles player in the South Central Region, bested Lee 6-1, 6-2 in line 4. Ziehm posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chawner. 

Sydney Wahl suffered her first loss at Southwestern, taking Gaini Ibrasheva to three sets before losing 6-4, 6-7, 3-6. 

"Taylor and Alli got us two huge points and put us in a position to win the match," Porter says. "Sydney found herself in a battle as she often does. She had her chances being up 4-1 in the second, and credit to her opponent for making enough down-the-line backhands to hit through Sydney."

Southwestern will host the NCAA Division I University of Rio Grande Valley tomorrow at noon.