FLORENCE, Ala. — The Bellarmine women's tennis team opened its ASUN slate on Thursday afternoon, and the Knights fell by a final score of 4-2 at North Alabama.
 
Despite the loss, reigning ASUN Player of the Week Lailaa Bashir won her third consecutive singles match with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Martina Paladini at the no. 2 spot.
 
"Today we came out and had opportunities," Knights Head Coach Brian Slack said.  "We had four match points to win the doubles and just didn't execute when needed. Going into singles, we started with our back against the wall and didn't respond very well. We just didn't play well in the big moments today. We need to get better in those moments to continue to get better. That's my job and we will make the adjustments moving forward."
 
Shu Grosso earned the other point for the Knights, besting Nicole Reilly 7-6, 6-4 at no. 6 singles.  The no. 3 and no. 4 singles matches went into a third set – Vendula Kryslova fell in her match at the no. 3 spot 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Kalais Going and Cydney Rogers lost to Valeria San Miguel 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 at no. 4.
 
UNA earned the doubles point with wins at the no. 1 and no. 3 spots, while the Bellarmine team of Bashir and Rogers earned a 6-3 victory at no. 2 doubles.
 
Bellarmine continues ASUN play next week at home versus Eastern Kentucky on Thursday. The action will begin at 10:00 a.m. inside the Eddie Weber Tennis Complex.

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