Georgia Southern 5, Davidson 2
STATESBORO, GA ? Georgia Southern ended an eight-match win streak the Davidson Wildcats held over the Eagles in regular season action on Saturday morning (March 14), defeating the Wildcats 5-2 at the Hanner Tennis Complex. The win marked the first time Georgia Southern upended Davidson since a 6-3 victory in 2000. The Southern Conference decision pushed the Eagles to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while the Wildcats dropped to 4-6, 0-1.
Due to the chance of inclement weather, singles matches were played first, followed by the doubles action. Singles finished in reverse numerical order as Georgia Southern clinched the match with the first four contests off the court. Senior Shea Huxtable finished first, carrying with her a straight set, 6-3, 6-3, victory over Katherine Dicconson at the six seed. Huxtable remains undefeated in conference action thus far, improving to 4-0 with the win and pushed her win streak to five matches with the decision.
Jessica Fuller and Melanie Rolle wrapped up their matches within minutes of each other, pushing the Eagles’ lead to 3-0. Fuller downed Samantha Galainena with identical 6-2 sets before Rolle ousted Ali Gores at the four seed by the same margin. Rolle pushed her win streak to seven matches, improved her overall record to 14-4 and kept her conference slate clean at 4-0 with the win.
Molly Maddox, competing at the three seed, clinched the match for Georgia Southern at 4-0 as she crushed Alison Rauh, 6-2, 6-1. Earning their lone singles victory of the morning, Wildcat Virginia Berry held on for a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Ali Beavers at the two seed before Kristi Kegerreis wrapped up singles action at the one seed. Kegerreis rebounded from dropping the first set 4-6 for a comeback win in the second, 7-5. The match was pushed to a super tiebreak where the Eagle jumped out to the early lead and secured the win with a 10-6 tiebreak decision.
With the match at 5-1 Georgia Southern, doubles action got underway. Davidson clinched the doubles point with victories at the two and three positions. Beavers and Maddox paired up at the one seed to defeat Berry and Rauh, 8-4, for Georgia Southern’s lone doubles win.
Furman 4, San Francisco 3
SAN DIEGO, Calif. ? Furman senior Lauren Tomory’s three-set win over Cecilia Gratian clinched a 4-3 victory over San Francisco for the Furman women’s tennis team in the final match of the University of San Diego Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Paladins (5-6) won their second straight match to head into Southern Conference action on a winning note. USF (6-6), who has struggled as of late, dropped its fourth consecutive match.
Furman headed into singles play with the early advantage after winning the doubles point. The Dons battled back as Alana McMahon earned a 6-3, 7-5 win over Jennifer Betts at number six singles. The Lady Paladins answered, reclaiming the lead with Monica Arguello’s defeat of Mylene Martin at number two and Susan Bitetti’s straight-set victory against Jessy Mekpoh at number four. Arguello has now won her last five matches to improve to 6-5 on the season.
San Francisco was not about to go down without a fight. At the top singles spot, Don sophomore Jennifer-Lee Heinser upset seventh-ranked Laura Gioia, 7-6 (1), 6-2, to end Gioia’s six-match winning streak. USF evened the match at three all when Julia Wartenburger managed a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Furman’s Jessica Preeg at number three. After splitting sets, Tomory and Gratian played a third set with the match result at stake. Tomory competed well under pressure, pulling out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 win to give the Lady Paladins the victory.
The Lady Paladins head into conference play winners of four of their last five matches. Furman will host SoCon-newcomer Samford on Saturday, March 21 at 10 a.m. at Mickel Tennis Center.