FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Southwestern women's tennis lost two of the three doubles points and had its comeback stopped short in a 6-3 loss to the No. 12-ranked University of Mary Washington Eagles. 

Emma Kesterson and Alli Ziehm gave the Pirates a strong start, rebounding from a Friday loss for a convincing 8-2 victory over Claire Coleman and Amanda Hagino in No. 2 doubles. 

Hana Kimmey and Emily Beckner tied the match for Mary Washington, defeating Taylor Despriet and Lauren Chisholm 8-3 in No. 3 doubles. Abby Moghtader and Lauren Quinn closed doubles with an 8-4 win over Nina Mitrofanova and Lydia Lee to swing the advantage in favor of the Eagles. 

"Today was not our best day of doubles. We just made way too many errors," Southwestern head tennis coach Billy Porter says. "Alli and Emma bounced back nicely today after yesterday to get us a big point." 

Coleman opened the singles matches with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Despriet, but Southwestern fought back with a 6-2, 6-0 win by Ziehm over Beckner in No. 6 singles, and Moghtader put Mary Washington on the brink of victory with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Mitrofanova in No. 1 singles. 

The Pirates staved off the clinch with Lee's 7-5, 6-3 win over Kimmey at No. 5 singles. 

Kesterson and Sydney Wahl extended their matches to third sets at No. 3 and 4 singles, but Quinn bested Kesterson 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, and Hagino won over Wahl 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. 

"The bottom of our lineup was rock solid today with Lydia and Alli getting us good wins," Porter says. "At team score 2-4, we made a really strong surge at No. 1, 3, and 4 and got our way back into the matches. Then at team score 3-4, we were in both third sets 3-4, and Mary Washington was able to weather the storm to pull it out and deserve the win." 

The No. 14-ranked Southwestern drops to 6-2 with its first loss to an NCAA Division III team this season. The Pirates will host Ozarks on Tuesday, March 22, at 5:00 p.m.