ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's women's tennis team opened the spring portion of its schedule winning seven of nine matches in its 6-1 win over St. Thomas on Friday evening at Challenge Fitness in Lockport, Ill.

Lewis dropped the opening doubles matches as its number one team of Casey Smith (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) and Anastasiya Salenko (Kyiv, Ukraine) fell to Olivia Paradise and Madeline Bremel 6-2 to begin the match but the Flyers won the next two doubles matches with their number two team of Nefeli Zafeiri (Greece) and Joie Reisch (La Grange Highlands, Ill./Lyons Township) defeating Regina Talavera and Jannah El Nemr 6-4 and then Sage Hills (Bloomingdale, Ill./Glenbard North) and Grace Sueflohn (Delafield, Wis./KM Global Charter School) knocked off Nicole Snezhko and Monterey Knewston 6-4 to give the first point of the match to Lewis.

The Flyers extended their lead as Salenko defeated Snezhko in straight sets 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles to open the singles competition. The Tommies cut into Lewis' lead as El Nemr beat Jovana Vujanic (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4 singles but the Flyers would win the next four matches to seal the victory.

Smith beat Abigail Bremel 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3 singles, then Zafeiri sealed the victory with a straight sets win over Paradise 6-4, 6-2 in the number one singles match. Hills defeated Brooke Hapuku 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6 singles and Reisch needed three sets but was able to defeat Knewtson 6-2, 2-6, 11-9 in the final match of the evening.

Lewis returns to the courts next Friday (Feb. 11) as it takes on Quincy at 8:30 a.m. at Five Star Tennis Center in Plainfield, Ill.