Edinburg, Texas – The UMBC women's tennis team opened the 2016 spring campaign with a tough 4-3 loss versus UT Rio Grande Valley in a match played at the Orville Cox Tennis Center. The marathon match lasted 3 hours, 42 minutes.

The Retrievers captured the doubles point as the No. 2 duo of senior Shannon Cleary (Little Bay, NSW, Australia) and sophomore Laura Ambrozic (Portoroz, Slovenia) won the deciding match, 6-4.

Junior Mariami Dolashvili (Alushta, Ukraine) gave the Retrievers a 2-0 lead by defeating Natacha Minc, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. After UTRGV won at No. 4 singles, UMBC freshman Maria Siopacha (Limassol, Cyprus) defeated Reegan Greenwood at the No. 1 position, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to give the visitors a 3-1 advantage.

But, the Retrievers could not prevail in the final three singles matches, dropping all in three sets. Cleary's match, at the No. 5 position, was the closest as the Retriever senior fell, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, dropping the tie-breaker, 7-4.

UMBC has a day off before taking on Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday.