HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's program team kicked off their spring season with a 7-0 win over the Belmont Abbey Lady Crusaders Friday afternoon at the Tennis Indoor Center. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters nabbed doubles wins at the #2 and #3 positions to clinch the first point of the day, and then swept the singles matches despite close battles at several lines. 
 
LMU's #1 one player Laura Jipescu, and #3 player Julia Valls, each battled to take three-set wins in their matches. Valentina Ascarrunz at #2, Amanda Dahlstrom at #5, and Kushi Khandoji in the #6 spot all held off their opponents in tight sets before putting them away.
 
Sophia Aray got the Splitters on the board with a quick 6-1, 6-1 win at the #4 position, then Khandoji and Dahlstrom followed suit at #4 and #6, respectively, to clinch the team match.
 
"It was a nice start, especially for the freshmen," said head coach Mark Walters, who saw his team win their home opener for the third straight season. "We have a very young team when you consider we played 5 freshmen and one sophomore in key matches. (Belmont Abbey) is also quite young, so I think both coaches were a bit unsure of exactly what to expect. But we played well in big points, and the home court advantage showed up in the late part of the matches for us."
 
Freshmen Jipescu, Aray, and Khandoji were all playing in their first college single matches, yet another freshman, Keana Moon teamed up with senior doubles specialist Samantha Hogan to win 6-1 at the #2 position, then Valls and Aray clinched the point with their 6-2 victory at #3. Jipescu and Ascarrunz lost their #1 doubles match although they served for the set at 5-4 and 6-5, before ultimately falling in a tiebreak by a 7-6 (3) score.
 
The LMU Women are back in action Saturday morning, playing host to D2 power West Virginia State. The Yellow Jackets have played in more than a dozen consecutive NCAA tournaments, and been to the Sweet 16 as recently as 2019. First serve is scheduled for 10am at the Tennis Indoor Center.
 
LMU Women

#1 Doubles         Valentina Ascarrunz/Laura Jipescu           LMU      lost to   Vaughn/Aranyos                BAC       6-7 (3-7)
#2 Doubles          Samantha Hogan/Keana Moon                LMU      def         Davis/Hendricks                BAC        6-1
#3 Doubles          Julia Valls/Sophia Aray                             LMU      def         Galeano/Socarras               BAC        6-2
Order of finish: 2,3,1 LMU leads 1-0

#1 Singles            Jipescu                                                     LMU      def         Vaughn                               BAC        61 06 64
#2 Singles            Ascarrunz                                                 LMU      def         Hendricks                           BAC        62 64
#3 Singles            Valls                                                          LMU      def         Peterson                             BAC        16 60 61
#4 Singles            Aray                                                          LMU      def         Aranyos                              BAC        61 61
#5 Singles            Dahlstrom                                                 LMU      def         Socarras                             BAC        75 63
#6 Singles            Kushi Khandoji                                          LMU      def         Galeano                              BAC        75 60
Order of finish: 4,6,5*,2,1,3                                       

LMU 1-0, 0-0 SAC
BAC 0-1, 0-0 CC
Duration of match: 3:23