NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State took the doubles point, but UNC Greensboro rallied to win five singles matches for a 5-2 win over the Spartan women's tennis team on Thursday afternoon at the NSU Tennis Complex.
 
Freshman Laura Ruiz won her singles match for the Spartans and was victorious in doubles as NSU fell to 1-1 on the year. UNCG was playing its first match of the year.
 
"Today it was a tale of two matches," said head coach Larry Holmes. "In doubles we came out with a lot of energy to take the point. In singles, we came out flat and not ready to play. Give UNCG credit for playing well, competing harder and taking the match from us. Once they had the momentum in singles, it was hard to stop. We will make the necessary adjustments and prepare for Richmond on Saturday."
 
Ruiz pulled off a big rally to win her No. 4 singles match. She fell 6-0 to Emily Ory in the first set, only to rally to win the second set, 7-5. Ruiz claimed a 7-6 win in the final set after winning the tiebreaker 8-6.
 
She and senior Paula Fortuno won at No. 2 doubles as well, 6-1, over the UNCG duo of Tayah Cross and Sophia Adams. Seniors Zoe Fraser and Bruna Goncalves helped the Spartans capture the doubles point with a win at the No. 1 position, 6-3 over Ory and Hanna Giddings.
 
Freshmen Andrea Barcenas and Lydia Oviedo were trailing 4-3 at the third slot to Juliana Craft and Brianna Gomez before the match was abandoned.
 
Goncalves came closest to winning a second singles match for NSU, taking on Eugenia Camacho at the No. 5 position. Camacho needed a 16-14 first-set tiebreaker to win the opening set 7-6. She then topped Goncalves 6-2 in the second set.
 
Fortuno (6-4, 6-2) and Fraser (6-3, 6-4) dropped their matches at the first two places in the lineup to Adams and Gomez, respectively. Giddings took care of Barcenas at the third position, 6-1 and 6-1, and Craft gave UNCG another singles win at the sixth slot, 6-0 and 6-1 over Oviedo.
 
NSU will play one more match this week on Saturday at Richmond.