Elon 7, Samford 0
BIRMINGTON, Ala. ? Anna Milian, Paige Kensrue, Elisa Simonetti, Melissa Wolf, Whitney Butcher and Daleen Kloppers all claimed singles victories while Milian, Kensrue, Wolf and Sally Wilkey all prevailed on the doubles scene as Elon topped Samford 7-0 in Southern Conference women’s tennis action Friday afternoon at the Samford Tennis Center.
Wilkey and Wolf received a default win at No. 3 doubles, but Andrie Meiring and Jessica Diamond upended Simonetti and Kloppers 8-3 at No. 2 to even the doubles standings for the Bulldogs (2-4 overall, 0-1 SoCon). Milian ? the reigning SoCon Player of the Week ? and Kensrue rallied past Taylor Morgan and Stephanie Parkison 9-8 at No. 1 to award Elon (6-6 overall, 1-1 SoCon) the doubles point.
On the singles scene, Milian (over Morgan 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1), Kensrue (over Meiring 6-1, 7-6 at No. 2), Simonetti (over Parkison 7-5, 6-4 at No. 3), Wolf (over Diamond 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4), Butcher (over Beth Erwin 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5) and Kloppers (by default at No. 6) then paced the Phoenix to a second triumph in as many matches. Elon visits SoCon foe Chattanooga at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Elon 6, Chattanooga 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Anna Milian, Paige Kensrue, Elisa Simonetti, Whitney Butcher and Daleen Kloppers all achieved success in singles play as Elon claimed a 6-1 Southern Conference women’s tennis triumph over Chattanooga ? the Phoenix’s third consecutive victory ? Saturday afternoon at the UTC Tennis Courts.
Milian and Kensrue outdueled Emily Hangstefer and Shaina Singh 8-5 at No. 1 doubles while Sally Wilkey and Melissa Wolf dispatched Annie Green and Grace Robinette 8-1 at No. 3 to seize the doubles point for Elon (7-6 overall, 2-1 SoCon) to open the contest. The Mocs (2-7 overall, 0-1 SoCon) picked up a win at No. 2 when Charlotte Bossy and Jennemieke van der Veek overcame Kloppers and Simonetti 8-7 (10-7).
In singles action, Milian (over Singh 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1), Kensrue (over van der Veek 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2), Simonetti (over Hangstefer 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3), Butcher (over Green 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5) and Kloppers (over Brianna Wishing 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6) all won for the Phoenix while Bossy (over Wolf 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 4) won for Chattanooga.
The Mocs will now head to the College of Charleston for a SoCon matchup at 1 p.m. Monday. The Phoenix will return home to the friendly confines of the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center to face SoCon rival UNC Greensboro at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Georgia Southern 7, Appalachian State 0
STATESBORO, GA ? Georgia Southern took every match off the courts Saturday afternoon (March 7) en route to a 7-0 sweeping of the Appalachian State Mountaineers at the Hanner Tennis Complex. The Southern Conference win propelled the Eagles to an 8-4 overall mark on the season and 2-1 conference ledger. Meanwhile, the ASU Mountaineers dropped to 2-6, 0-1.
Georgia Southern captured the doubles point for the seventh time this season with commanding wins at all three seeds. Kristi Kegerreis and Ali Beavers posted an 8-1 mark at No. 1, while Shea Huxtable and Jessica Fuller clinched the doubles point at the three position with an 8-4 win. The Eagle tandem extended their match win streak to four with the victory and pushed their conference ledger to a perfect 3-0. Christine Caforio and Melanie Rolle rounded out doubles play for the Eagles at the No.2 seed. The Eagle tandem was in good position to secure the win standing at 7-4 before back-to-back breaks closed out the victory for the Eagles, 8-5.
It was all Georgia Southern in singles action as the Eagles dropped only three sets in the six matches. The first three matches off the court decided the fate of the match as Kegerreis, Rolle and Beavers each posted dominating wins over their opponents from the one, four and two seeds respectively. In 45 minutes, Kegerreis crushed Heather Prior from the one position in straight 6-0 sets three minutes before Rolle breezed past Gisela Fernandez 6-1,6-1 from the four spot. With the conference win, Rolle remains undefeated in SoCon action with a record of 3-0 and extends her current win streak to six matches.
Sophomore Beavers secured the win for the Eagles at the two seed. The Kingsport, Tenn. native posted an identical match score over Blakeley Bean as fellow classmate Rolle recorded at the four seed. Beavers now boasts a 14-6 overall singles mark with the win.
The Eagles continued to hold ASU scoreless as Fuller improved to 11-9 in singles action beating her Mountaineer opponent Lindsey King, 1-6,6-0,10-8, at the five seed. Molly Maddox dropped her opponent at No.3 in a match tiebreaker. Maddox rebounded after the first set to take the second 6-2 and the tiebreak 10-8. Closing out the afternoon for the Eagles was Huxtable from the No.6 seed. The senior Eagle kept her conference slate clean with a winning decision over Olivia Stannard. Huxtable easily took the first set, 6-2, but narrowly dropped the second set as Stannard fought off four match points in a 13-11 tiebreaker to push the contest into a match tiebreaker. The Eagle pulled away from the Mountaineer and secured the win with a 10-4 tiebreak decision to improve to 3-0 in conference play.
Georgia Southern returns to action and wraps up this homestand with a visit from the Davidson Wildcats on March 14. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday.
USC Upstate 6, Wofford 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C.- The Wofford women's tennis team was downed by cross town foe USC Upstate on Saturday afternoon 6-1 on the campus of USC Upstate. The Spartans improve to 7-2 with the win while the Terriers fall to 0-5 on the year.
The Spartans jumped out to a 1-0 lead after doubles play sweeping all three matches. The closest the Terriers came to taking a doubles match was on court number one where senior Cayley Wetzig and freshman Ashley Lawrence were defeated by Anna Nova and Emilia Milovanovic 8-3.
Lawrence, playing in just her second singles match of the spring season, picked up her first win of the season over Milovanovic in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 on court number three. In others singles action, Sabrina Smyers pushed Carolina Bello to three sets before falling 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. The remaining four Terriers were defeated in straight sets.
The Terriers will take to the court once again on Sunday morning as they join the Terrier men in a doubleheader against Lipscomb. Play is slated to begin at 10 a.m.