HUNTSVILLE | The University of Alabama in Huntsville women's tennis team opened its season Saturday with a 5-2 loss to Division I opponent Belmont. The Chargers begin their 2015 campaign 0-1 as Belmont notches its first win of the year in five tries.

Freshmen Cristina Cabanas and Naomi Esteve made their collegiate debuts with Cabanas picking up her first collegiate win.

Per Division I rules, three doubles matches worth a total of one point were played first. The no. 1 position tandem Marleen Gort and Aniek Remmerswaal, and the no. 2 position tandem Cabanas and Katie Bryant dropped closely contested games 8-7 each. On court no. 3, Abby Burks and Marta Briega fell to Ann Lauren Fiepke and Suzanna Stapler 8-2, giving the Bruins a 1-0 overall lead.

In singles, UAH was able to pick up two points with wins from Cabanas over Laura Van Eeckhoudt (7-5, 6-4) and Briega over Suzanna Stapler (7-5, 6-3).

Belmont was victorious in the other four pairings, finishing the singles slate 4-2. In the no. 6 position, Bryant was able to force a third game against Fiepke, but was not able to pull out a win falling 6-4, 3-6 (10-6).

The Chargers will return to action next week when they host Carson Newman at Spragins Hall for a 1 p.m. match on Feb. 14.