Women's Tennis 3/30/2019 7:32:00 PM David Halstead

Bode and Miller celebrate Senior Day with singles wins

BOX SCORE Ebensburg, Pa. – Saint Francis seniors Raksha Bode (Reunion, Fla./Florida Virtual School) and Stephanie Miller (Washington, D.C./St. John's College High School) celebrated their four-year careers with singles wins on Senior Day as the Red Flash fell to Fairleigh Dickinson 5-2 on Saturday at the Ebensburg Tennis Center.

SFU (3-13, 2-1 NEC) suffered its first NEC loss of the season at the hands of the FDU (7-6, 1-0 NEC), which picked up a victory in its first NEC contest of the season. The Red Flash recorded singles wins at No. 3 and No. 4 as Bode fought back from a set down to knock off Patricia Eftenoiu at the third position, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Miller won two close sets in a 7-5, 7-5 triumph over Smriti Singh at No. 4 singles.

"They had such hard matches," Head Coach Lisa Swope said. "To watch the two seniors be able to pull it out in the third set for Raksha and Steph having to pull out two close sets, it's icing on the cake that they were able to win on their Senior Day. We knew Fairleigh Dickinson was going to be really difficult coming in. A couple three setters could have gone the other way and a couple tiebreaks and we would be looking at a win."

In No. 1 singles, SFU's Laura Gutierrez (Bogota, Colombia/Cibercolegio UCN) bounced back after dropping the first set to force a third set, but fell in a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-2 decision to Marta Ruszczynska. FDU's Aleksandra Vorozheikina defeated Lucia Seigford (Madrid, Spain/Mirasur) at the No. 2 position, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. In No. 5 singles, the Red Flash's Romina Cutipa (Huancayo, Peru/San Juan Bosco) dropped a tight 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) match to Carolin Menzen. Saint Francis fell at No. 6 by default.

In doubles action, FDU's Ruszczynska and Vorozheikina won at No. 1 over Bode and Seigford, 6-2. SFU's Miller and Gutierrez secured a victory at No. 2 over Eftenoiu and Menzen, 6-2. The Knights took the doubles point by winning at No. 3 by default.

Saint Francis has a quick turnaround as it travels to play at Carnegie Mellon on Sunday, March 31. The match is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Alpha Tennis Center in Pittsburgh.

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Players Mentioned

Raksha Bode: 5' 3"; Senior

Laura Gutierrez: 5' 6"; Junior

Stephanie Miller: 5' 6"; Senior

Lucia Seigford: 5' 2"; Junior

Romina Cutipa: 5' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Raksha Bode
: 5' 3"; Senior

Laura Gutierrez
: 5' 6"; Junior

Stephanie Miller
: 5' 6"; Senior

Lucia Seigford
: 5' 2"; Junior

Romina Cutipa
: 5' 4"; Freshman