Winthrop doubles tennis duo's historic season ends deep in NCAA Tournament

Winthrop women's tennis doubles duo Megan Kauffman and Lauren Proctor's historic season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Doubles Championship Saturday afternoon at Wake Forest University.

Kauffman and Proctor were topped by the 14th-ranked doubles pair in the country, Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco of Oklahoma State.

The loss marked the first of the season for Winthrop's previously undefeated All-American duo, which finished with a remarkable final record of 24-1.

Saturday's action was slowed by weather delays. Winthrop's match, originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m., began at approximately 4:50 p.m. on Wake Forest's indoor courts after an attempted start and warm-up outdoors was ended by a lightning delay and impending storm.

Kauffman and Proctor started well, going up 2-1 in the first set on a break of Oklahoma State's Blanco, but the Cowgirls would return the favor with a break on Kauffman to even the match at 2-2.

Each held until OSU got an advantage on another Kauffman break to go up 5-3 and secure the 6-3 first set win on Babic's serve.

In the second set, OSU gained an early 2-0 advantage with a deuce point break on Proctor and Babic hold. Kauffman would keep the Eagles close with a held serve to draw it to 1-2. Each side would hold through 2-4 OSU lead, then the Cowgirls went up 5-2 on a break Blanco held serve for the 6-2 victory.

Adding two wins over top-15 nationally ranked teams during the NCAA Championship, Kauffman and Proctorshould be highly ranked in the final ITA rankings of 2017-18, and entering the fall tournament season. The duo ends the season 4-1 against nationally ranked opponents.

This story was originally published May 29, 2018 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Winthrop doubles tennis duo's historic season ends deep in NCAA Tournament."