ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's tennis team defeated Illinois Springfield 6-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams at the UMSL Tennis Courts on Friday afternoon. The Tritons improve to 8-4, 1-0 GLVC while the Prairie Stars are 0-8, 0-1 GLVC.

UMSL won all three doubles matches to win the first point of the contest. Giuliana Cunza and Lauren Sweeney beat Cristina Mendoza and Man Naum 6-2 at No. 3 doubles, Anna Favaron and Morgan Lint defeated Niamh Grogan and Kamila Kalinowska 6-2 in the second doubles match and the first doubles match went to Hannah Tse and Aleksandra Lopez over Ema Norman Bordean and Carmen Llopis Fabra.

The Tritons won five of the singles duals to secure the victory. Lopez started it off with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Bordean at No. 2 singles. Tse, ranked No. 30 in Division II, lost to Fabra 1-6, 6-4, 3-6 in the first singles contest. Favaron rallied after dropping the first set to beat Kalinowska by the score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Lint swept past Grogan 6-2, 6-2, Cunza defeated Mendoza 6-3, 6-0 and Sweeney beat Naum 6-0, 6-0.

UMSL plays its final home match of the season against Lewis at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the UMSL Tennis Courts.