Georgia Southern 6, Western Carolina 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina women's tennis was defeated by Georgia Southern a 6-1 Sunday at the Catamounts Sports Complex. The Southern Conference win pushed the Eagles to a 10-4 overall season mark and 4-1 conference ledger. The Catamounts dropped to 3-8, 0-3.
Georgia Southern came out strong capturing the doubles point for the eighth time this season with a sweep of all three doubles matches. Molly Maddox and Emma Knight teamed up at the three seed for the first time this dual season rolling to an 8-1 victory over Emily Turke and Jennifer Brazelton, giving the Eagles the advantage in doubles. Melanie Rolle and Christine Caforio Christine Caforio, pairing at the No.2 position, clinched the doubles point for Georgia Southern. The Eagle tandem broke Izabella Glinska and Layne Arnold, 8-6, for the win. Kristi Kegerreis and Ali Beaver completed the doubles sweep from the No. 1 court. The pair ousted Amanda Massey and Ainhoa Iglesias 8-5 to give Georgia Southern the early team point.
Carrying the doubles momentum into singles action, Georgia Southern secured the SoCon victory taking the first three matches off the court. Senior Shea Huxtable registered her sixth consecutive win at the six seed. Huxtable downed Turke in two easy sets, 6-1, 6-0. Rolle finished second taking with her an identical match score as Huxtable. Rolle improved her dual singles mark to 15-4 with her eighth consecutive win. The sophomore remains undefeated in conference action boasting a 5-0 ledger at the fourth position. Rolle's victory pushed the score to 3-0 Georgia Southern’s favor.
Clinching the match for the Eagles was Jessica Fuller at the four seed. The junior from Cartersville, Ga. improved her overall record to 13-9 with a 6-0, 6-2 decision over Chelsea Best. Fuller pushed her win streak to four and conference mark to 4-1 with the win.
WCU grabbed their lone singles win and team point as Glinska defeated Kegerreis at the one seed, 6-3, 6-4. But Georgia Southern responded with wins at the remaining two courts. Maddox upended Iglesias in a super tiebreak, 1-6, 6-3, 10-8, while Beavers knocked down Massey, 6-4, 6-3 at the two seed.
Furman 7, Chattanooga 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? The Furman women’s tennis team stretched it Southern Conference regular-season winning streak to 90 matches, defeating the Chattanooga Mocs, 7-0, on Sunday afternoon at Mickel Tennis Center. The Lady Paladins (7-6, 2-0) have won their last four matches and six of their last seven bouts. Chattanooga dropped to 4-9 overall, 1-3 in league play.
Furman cruised through doubles action, winning all three matches and not dropping more than two games in any of them. Senior Laura Gioia and sophomore Monica Arguello won their fourth straight match at the top doubles position, defeating Jennemieke van der Veek and Charlotte Bossy, 8-1.
Gioia was impressive in singles action, shutting out her opponent, Shaina Singh, at number one. Gioia is 8-4 on the season and has won eight of her last nine matches. Arguello had an equally strong showing, dropping only one game in her 6-0, 6-1 defeat of van der Veek at number two. The win extends her streak to seven straight matches ? Arguello has not lost a singles match since mid-February.
Senior Lauren Tomory topped Annie Green, 6-1, 6-3, to win her seventh consecutive match. Tomory owns a team-best 9-4 record this season. Freshman Susan Bitetti was victorious for the fourth straight time, defeating Charlotte Bossy, 6-4, 6-1, at number four singles. Junior Jessica Preeg and sophomore Jennifer Betts also notched wins on Sunday.
Furman will host Western Carolina in a mid-week SoCon match on Wednesday, March 25. The match is slated to begin at 3 p.m.
Samford 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- The Samford University women’s tennis team picked up its first road victory of the 2009 season Sunday as the Bulldogs fought to a 4-3 Southern Conference win against the Wofford Terriers at the Reeves Tennis Center.
With the hard-fought victory, Samford (4-7, 1-2 SoCon) concluded its weekend road trip with a 1-1 record. On Saturday, the Bulldogs dropped a 7-0 decision at Furman.
Sunday’s match was only Samford’s fourth road contest of the 2009 campaign. The Bulldogs improved their record to 1-3 with the win. Samford’s previous three losses occurred at No. 65 Alabama, Southern Miss and Furman.
Wofford (2-8, 1-2 SoCon) suffered its second straight loss Sunday and fell to 2-4 when playing at home this season. Since earning a 7-0 victory against Western Carolina on Tuesday, the Terriers have dropped consecutive matches to Chattanooga 5-2 and Samford 4-3.
In Sunday’s victory, Samford won the doubles point and streaked to straight-set singles triumphs on courts No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4.
The key victory of the day proved to be the Bulldogs’ doubles win on court No. 2. With the score of doubles play tied at 1-1, Samford’s tandem comprised of Andrie Meiring and Jessica Diamond outlasted Wofford’s pair of Haley Baird and Sabrina Smyers, 8-6.
Diamond and Meiring’s crucial doubles win clinched the opening point of the match for Samford in what proved to be the deciding factor in Sunday’s victory.
Meiring, the Bulldogs’ talented sophomore from Stellenbosch, South Africa, tallied her seventh-consecutive doubles win in the match.
In singles play, Samford’s Taylor Morgan breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 victory on court No. 1, while Meiring cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 triumph against Wofford’s Ashley Lawrence on court No. 2. The Bulldogs’ Diamond then closed out the match with a similar straight-set win over Smyers in the No. 4 singles competition, 6-1, 6-3.
Samford’s Morgan and Meiring both improved to 6-5 in singles play this season. Morgan has won all of her matches on court No. 1, while Meiring has tallied all of her victories on court No. 2.
The Samford women’s tennis team will next be in action March 29 at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the Davidson Wildcats to the Samford Tennis Center for another critical SoCon matchup.