STARKVILLE, Ms. – The Bellarmine University women's tennis team dropped a pair of contests in its season opener, first falling 4-0 to Mississippi State before a 4-1 loss to Samford University on Saturday at Mississippi State's A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
 
Against Mississippi State, junior Vendula Kryslova and senior Ekaterina Tikhonko were the closest to helping the Knights put a win on the board, putting up a tough 6-4 effort in their doubles bout. Tikhonko, sophomore Marika Caruk and sophomore Nikola Kollaritsch were all close to securing second set wins in their singles matches before they were all stopped early after the Bulldogs clinched the team win.
 
In their second match of the day, Kollaritsch secured a team point for Bellarmine after winning her singles match 6-1, 6-3. Kryslova was also close to a win in singles, but the match was stopped early in the second set after Samford secured the team win.
 
Bellarmine (0-2) will have a quick turnaround before its next match as the Knights will travel to Columbus, OH for a bout with Ohio State on January 20^th.
 
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