Samford 5, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Samford women’s tennis team picked up its most impressive victory of the 2009 Southern Conference season Wednesday as the Bulldogs tallied a 5-2 road win against the Chattanooga Lady Mocs at the UTC Tennis Courts.
In the triumph, Samford (5-8, 2-3 SoCon) earned the doubles point and received singles wins from Taylor Morgan, Andrie Meiring, Stephanie Parkison and Jessica Diamond. The Bulldogs improved to 2-3 on the road this season and the victory was their second in three matches.
Wednesday’s win marked Samford’s best victory in SoCon play this season. Prior to defeating Chattanooga (5-11, 1-5 SoCon), the Bulldogs’ most lopsided triumph was a 4-3 win at Wofford on March 22.
Samford won the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches to take the early point for a 1-0 advantage in Wednesday’s contest.
The Bulldogs’ Morgan and Parkison defeated Emily Hangstefer and Grace Robinette, 8-5, at the No. 1 position, while Samford’s Miering and Diamond won the No. 2 doubles match by defeating Chattanooga’s Jenniemieke van der Veek and Charlotte Bossy, 8-2.
In singles play, the Bulldogs’ Morgan won the No. 1 match, 6-0, 6-0, over van der Veek and Samford followed that with a 6-3, 6-1 win by Meiring over Shaina Singh on court No. 2. Diamond then defeated Bossy, 6-3, 6-1, in the No. 4 singles contest to clinch the match.
The Bulldogs’ Parkison earned their fifth point with a 7-5, 7-6(6) win on court No. 3 over the Lady Mocs’ Hangstefer.
With Morgan’s win in the No. 1 singles match, the Bulldogs’ talented sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., tallied her third-consecutive victory in singles play Wednesday.
Furman 7, Appalachian State 0
BOONE, N.C. ? The Furman women’s tennis team rolled to another shutout victory, defeating the Appalachian State Mountaineers, 7-0, in Southern Conference action on Wednesday afternoon. The Lady Paladins (10-7, 5-0) have shutout four of their five SoCon opponents this year and sit atop the league standings in a tie with College of Charleston. The loss dropped the Mountaineers to 6-11 overall, 1-3 in the SoCon.
Three Lady Paladins did not lose a game in their respective singles matches. Senior Lauren Tomory won her 11th consecutive match, defeating Gisela Fernandez, 6-0, 6-0 at number five. Classmate Laura Gioia earned a shutout win against ASU’s Amanda Cash to improve to 12-4 on the season. Gioia, Furman’s top singles player, is 28-3 against league competition during her career. Sophomore Monica Arguello also posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory, rolling by Caroline Mauch at position two.
Junior Jessica Preeg remained undefeated in league action with a straight-set win against Lindsay King at number three. Sophomore Jennifer Betts earned a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Laura Janke and freshman Susan Bitetti posted a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-0 win over Blakeley Bean.
Furman’s doubles pairs won all three matches to earn the team point. With an 8-3 win over Olivia Stannard and Gisela Fernandez, Arguello and Gioia remained unbeaten in league action. The tandem is 9-7 on the year at the number one spot.
UNC Greensboro 5, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Coming off a solid 4-1 week, the Davidson women’s tennis team looked to continue its hot streak, but UNC Greensboro halted the Wildcats’ winning ways by coming up with a 5-2 win on Wednesday evening in a Southern Conference match in Knobloch Indoor Tennis Center.
The ?Cats saw their season-best four-match winning streak come to an end as they fell to an even 9-9 on the season and 4-3 in league matches. UNCG pushed its win streak to three straight as it earned its second league win in a row to move to 4-1 and 9-4 overall.
Davidson nearly took the doubles point to start the match. It earned an 8-6 win at the No. 3 doubles spot thanks to the solid play of Ali Gores and Molly McDevitt, who tallied their fourth win in a row together and improved to 5-1 on the year.
The Spartans came back to take an 8-1 decision at No. 2, before forcing the Wildcats’ No. 1 team of Virginia Berry and Michele Fanney to a tie breaker. UNCG took the tie breaker 7-4 and earned a 9-8 win for the doubles point.
From there, UNCG was able to capture wins at No. 1, 3, 4, and 5 singles positions to take home the 5-2 win.
Davidson got their two points from Berry and Samantha Galainena. Berry, fresh off a 4-1 week, ran her singles winning streak to five straight by cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Valerie Behr at No. 2. The junior is a team-best 13-5 in singles action this year, a perfect 7-0 in league matches and 9-1 in her last 10 matches overall.
Galainena, also on a hot-streak of her own, recorded her eighth singles win this year with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Jessica Eblen at No. 6. The sophomore pushed her winning streak to a career-best four straight as she earned her fourth league win as well.