INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian women's tennis team opened their 2023 Crossroads League season on Tuesday afternoon on a sour note, as the Knights fell to (RV) Bethel University. The 5-2 defeat drops the Knights to 0-1 on the young season. 

Marian lost two of the three doubles matches and trailed in the third, as Bethel took the first point of the match to lead 1-0. Katharina Bopst and Yasmin Imamniyazova were defeated at No. 1 doubles by a 6-2 score, and at No. 3 doubles the pair of Emma Chrome and Paloma Caceres Villalba were defeated by a 6-3 score. At No. 2 doubles, Marian's duo of Ana Barbosa Fernandez and Gabriela Irigoyen Palacios were trailing 5-2 when the watch went unfinished.

In singles, things did not go in favor for the Knights, as the Pilots claimed four of the six matches to seal the match. Imamniyazova lost her match at No. 1 singles by a 6-2, 6-1 score, and at No. 2 singles Barbosa Fernandez was defeated in a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 match to Szilvi Forenczy.

Marian was able to claw back as they got on the board by winning No. 3 and No. 4 singles, as Irigoyen Palacios and Chrome scored three-set wins. Irigoyen Palacios won by a count of 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 against Ariadne Kokoula at No. 3, and Chome defeated Julieta Gonzalez 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 4. Despite the two wins, Marian was unable to get wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, allowing Bethel to clinch the match and victory. Sara Corrio Alemany fell to Kyla Steyn at No. 5 singles by a 6-4, 6-2, count as the Pilots clinched the match, and at No. 6 Sandy Sharaf defeated the Knights' Bopst 7-5, 6-4.

Marian drops to 0-1, but will have a chance to get back in the win column on Thursday afternoon when they host No. 19 Indiana Wesleyan at 3 p.m. 

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