Furman 6, College of Charleston 1
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The 67th-ranked Furman women's tennis team claimed the top spot in the Southern Conference with an impressive 6-1 win over the College of Charleston Cougars on Saturday. The Paladins also improved their regular season conference winning streak to 85 matches.
Furman earned the first point of the match with wins at the number one and number two doubles spots. In the top spot, the Paladin tandem of Laura Gioia and Natasa Manojlovic defeated Laura Borza and Link Leskosky by a score of 8-5. Lauren Osborne and Monica Arguello sealed the point with a close 9-8 (7-5) win over Holly Dowse and Keely Mulligan.
In singles play, Furman earned two quick points with wins at the number one and number two spots. At the top spot, junior Laura Gioia defeated Chelsea Albertz 6-1, 6-1, and at the number two spot, Monica Arguello topped Laura Borza by the same scores to put the Paladins up 3-0.
With strong players in the bottom half of the lineup, the Cougars looked to give the Paladins a hard time in the remaining four spots. However, Lauren Osborne picked up a 6-1, 6-4 win over Link Leskosky to seal the win and first-place spot in the conference for the Paladins.
The Cougars' only win came at the number five spot, due to a Paladin injury. At the number four spot, Jessica Preeg came back from a 2-5 deficit in the first set to defeat Holly Dowse 7-5, 6-7 (9-11), 13-11. At number six singles, Natasa Manojlovic earned a quick 6-2, 6-0 win over Amanda Becker to finish the match.
With the win, the Paladins improve to 12-5 overall and 6-0 in the Southern Conference, while College of Charleston falls to 19-3 and 6-1 in league play. The Paladins will host non-conference foe Boston University on Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Davidson 4, Boston University 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Behind the strong play of its singles players, the Davidson women's tennis team scored the program's first win against visiting Boston University with a 4-3 non-conference victory on Saturday afternoon in the Knobloch Tennis Center. Davidson had been 0-3 all-time in its matches against the Terriers.
The Wildcats finished the week a prefect 3-0 to run their overall mark to 15-4, and also kept their home winning streak alive by making it nine straight as they sit at 9-0 on the year. Boston fell to an even 6-6 for the season.
Davidson fell behind 1-0 when the Terriers came up with wins at the No. 2 and 3 doubles positions.
Boston also took singles wins at No. 1 by Francine Whu and No. 5 by Elizabeth Corrao, before the Wildcats charged back with four straight wins for the 4-3 victory.
Sophomore Virginia Berry (Spartanburg, S.C.) made it winning week for herself by taking home a 6-4, 6-4 decision against Vanessa Steiner at No. 2 singles. Berry went 2-1 for the week and improved to 11-6 on the season in singles action.
Finishing the week off with perfect records was junior Michele Fanney (Virginia Beach, Va.) and senior Meredith Skeeters (Greesnboro, N.C.) at 3-0 and 2-0, respectively. Fanney, regrouped after dropping her doubles match, to score a two-set, 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles to run her record to 6-2 when playing that position.
Skeeters, who has the second-most wins on the team, ran her overall singles record to a solid 13-2 mark when she defeated Danielle Abraham by the score of 6-4, 6-1 at No. 6.
Finally, senior Kim Whelan (Sewickley, Pa.) matched Fanney with a 3-0 week in singles play by tallying her team-leading 14th win in a three-set victory over Cori Lefkowith at No. 3. The senior sits at 14-4 on the year and has won her last four straight matches.
The Wildcats next head to play cross-county rival Charlotte on Tuesday, Apr. 8. The match time is set for 3 p.m.
Davidson College 4, Boston University 3
Singles competition
1. Francine Whu (BU) def. Kelsey Linville (DAV) 6-4, 6-2
2. Virginia Berry (DAV) def. Vanessa Steiner (BU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Kim Whelan (DAV) def. Cori Lefkowith (BU) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
4. Michele Fanney (DAV) def. Yana Sadovskaya (BU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Elizabeth Corrao (BU) def. Alison Rauh (DAV) 6-0, 6-4
6. Meredith Skeeters (DAV) def. Danielle Abraham (BU) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Kelsey Linville/Virginia Berry (DAV) def. Francine Whu/Vanessa Steiner (BU) 8-3
2. Danielle Abraham/Cori Lefkowith (BU) def. Michele Fanney/Teresa Wang (DAV) 8-5
3. Elizabeth Corrao/Yana Sadovskaya (BU) def. Kim Whelan/Alison Rauh (DAV) 8-4