The Clark Atlanta University Lady Panthers tennis team battled hard but fell to Benedict College 5-2 in the semifinals of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tennis Championships in Peachtree City, Ga. Saturday.

The Lady Panthers will now take on Albany State at 10 a.m. Sunday in the consolation match.  Bendict faces Savannah State in the championship at 1 p.m.

On a chilly and sometimes windy day on Saturday, CAU doubles team Kristen Blount and Shani Idlette defeated Karina Izakova and Shakendra Alson 6-2.  But No. 1 singles team Madison Moffatt and Shareese Henry fell to Esperance Follykoue and Sofia Gomez 6-2.  The No. 3 team of Nicola Ramdyhan and Zaire Lamb were defeated 6-0 by Patricia Wamba and Gabriela Zelaya. 

The singles competition saw matches that were close and could have gone either way. Blount got CAU's only singles victory Saturday, defeating Follykoue in a nail-bitter, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.  Ramdyhan nearly defeated Alston, coming up just short in the third set, 7-5, 6-7 (9-7), 10-7.  Idlette pushed Wamba hard, but fell 6-2, 6-4 (10-6).  Moffatt lost to Izakova 6-2, 6-1; while Henry was defeated by Gomez 6-0, 6-2.  Ziare Lamb fell to Zelaya 6-0. 

Sunday, the Lady Panthers take on Albany State, a team they split two matches with this season.  They lost 4-0 during the first SIAC Round-Up when CAU was besieged by injuries, and then defeated the Golden Rams 4-1 in the second Round-Up in March.