Box Score ROME, Ga. - The Berry women's tennis team was busy training for spring break, but an opportunity to play Cumberland University presented itself, and the ladies were pleased to have an extra challenge tonight under the night lights of the downtown Rome Tennis Center.

The senior, seasoned second doubles team of Lacey Craig / Olivia Walton were quick to strike with a 6-2 win, followed shortly by the ever solid duo of Saris Mejia / Lauren Masteller at first doubles, winning
7-5. Sakura Manning / Sophie Gibbs were a new pairing to slot into third doubles, and traded point for point with their opponents until ultimately losing 6-7 in a tiebreak.

With a point under their belt, the women were eager to win the singles but this would prove to be a challenge against a singles focused team. Every match went the distance with several hours of play, but Lacey Craig at third singles lost to a strong, consistent baseliner 2-6, 1-6. Sakura Manning at fourth singles produced quality tennis against a slicing player, but capitalized on the winning strategy just a tad too late in a 3-6, 4-6 defeat. Olivia Walton at fifth singles brought the heat to her opponent with fiery net play but fell short, losing 3-6, 5-7. However, captain Lauren Masteller at first singles was keen to reverse the trend with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory. The remaining matches played late into the night and could have gone either way, but ultimately ended with Saris Mejia at second singles losing 7-5, 3-6, 3-6 and Sophie Gibbs at sixth singles losing 6-2, 2-6, 4-6.

Despite the narrow loss to Cumberland University, the ladies walked away proud knowing that they battled for every point against a strong team. They look forward to spring break beginning March 8th, where they will face several teams ranging from Division I to Division III.


1. Lauren Masteller and Sara Mejia defeated Cumberland 5-7
2. Lacey Craig and Olivia Walton defeated Cumberland 2-6
3. Sakura Manning and Sophie Gibbs fell to Cumberland 7-6 (4)


1. Lauren Masteller defeated Cumberland 3-6, 4-6
2. Sara Mejia fell to Cumberland 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
3. Lacey Craig fell to Cumberland 6-2, 6-1
4. Sakura Manning fell to Cumberland 6-3, 6-4
5. Olivia Walton fell to Cumberland 6-3, 7-5
6. Sophie Gibbs fell to Cumberland 2-6, 6-2, 6-4