DANVILLE, KY.- The Randolph women's tennis team opened its spring season on Saturday as the WildCats faced Centre College. The Colonels defeated the WildCats 4-3.

A really high level first match of the season for our team to experience," said head coach Sam Martinez. "A close 4-3 loss against a solid Centre team give us a lot to build on."

Centre led 1-0 after doubles play. The first doubles team of Lize van Veen (Harderwijk, The Netherlands RSG Slingerbos) and Lena Kersten (Bonn, Germany/Otto Kuhne Schule) defeated Carlie Mitchell and Kennedy Herring 6-4.

"Lena and Lize got a great win at first doubles and earned it," noted Martinez. "The other team were two juniors with a lot of experience at first doubles. We served really well and weren't broken at first doubles."

In the singles portion, Kersten was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Mitchell at first singles. Fleur Gaalman (Abcoude, Utrecht, Netherlands Haarlemmermeer Lyceum Dalton) needed three sets in her third singles match against Herring and was able to pull out a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. Emma Bauer (Munich, Germany) won her fourth singles match against Kayla Harger 6-3, 6-2.

Singles was such a good response as a group," said Martinez. "Emma got a great win at four after being sick all week. Fleur to come back from losing the first set is awesome. Lena's second set was stellar and she didn't drop a game."

Randolph will travel to Fredericksburg on February 26 for a match against #27 Mary Washington. The match will begin at 3:30 p.m.