Georgia Southern 4, Coastal Carolina 3
STATESBORO, GA - Melanie Rolle used a comeback win after dropping the first set to Kim Webb to clinch a 4-3 Georgia Southern decision over Coastal Carolina Saturday morning at the Hanner Tennis Complex. The Eagles used the early doubles point and wins from Kristi Kegerreis, Jessica Fuller and Rolle to top the Chanticleers and improve to 3-2 on the year. Meanwhile, the Eagles handed CCU its first loss of the season, dropping to 5-1. To open the year, Coastal Carolina took the first four decisions in sweep formats.
Coastal Carolina took the first doubles match off the courts, walking away with an 8-4 win from the No. 3 seed as Mary Hill and Paty Cortes defeated Natalie Maffett and Fuller, 8-4. But GS picked up a win at the two seed to even the playing field. Rolle and Ashley Hungerford downed Webb and Maria Camberos, 8-6, leaving the doubles point decision at the top seed. Ali Beavers and Kegerreis secured the early match lead for Georgia Southern, clinching the point with a tight 9-7 doubles win over Lexi Bolesky and Miki Bunea.
Moving into singles play, CCU erased Georgia Southern's lead, grabbing a straight set victory at the two seed to even the playing field. But wins from No. 6 and No. 4 would quickly put the Eagles within one match to clinch the win.
Fuller dropped only three games to Hill, crushing the Chanticleer from the six seed, 6-2, 6-1, moments before Kegerreis dominated Camberos for a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 4.
CCU drew the score to 3-2 with a Bunea win over Beavers at the top seed, but junior Rolle would seal the non-conference win for Georgia Southern before the Chanticleers could tie the match. Rolle dropped the first set, 6-4, to Webb, but turned around and stole the next two sets without dropping a game in the midst. The junior completed the three-match win, 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 to clinch the overall match for Georgia Southern. Cortes closed out the contest with a win at the five seed for the final 4-3 score.
Georgia Southern next returns to the hard courts on Sunday, Feb. 21 with another non-conference match-up taking on Hampton at 2 p.m.
Samford 5, Southern Mississippi 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University women's tennis team extended its home winning streak to four-consecutive matches Saturday as the Bulldogs registered a 5-2 victory against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the win, Samford (5-2) improved to 4-0 at home this season as the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by a total of 25-3 at the Samford Tennis Center. Samford has also earned home victories against Charlotte 7-0, Columbus State 6-1 and Jacksonville State 7-0 this season.
Southern Miss (3-4) dropped its second straight decision Saturday. On Friday, the Golden Eagles had their two-match winning streak snapped with a 7-0 home loss against Texas Tech.
In Saturday's 5-2 triumph, Samford won the doubles point and then received singles victories from Taylor Morgan, Stephanie Parkison, Rebecca Kirven and Lindsey Mallory.
The Bulldogs picked up the doubles point with wins on courts No. 1 and No. 2. Samford's Lindsey Mallory and Morgan earned an 8-4 victory in the No. 1 doubles match, while Kirven and Meiring cruised to an 8-1 win on court No. 2. The Bulldogs' duo comprised of Kirven and Meiring improved their record on the season to 4-2.
In singles play, Samford's Morgan registered her second straight victory at the No. 1 singles spot with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Southern Miss' Stephanie Dellocono. The Bulldogs' Parkison then knocked off Zoe Lee on court No. 4, 7-5, 6-2, while Kirven remained undefeated in singles play with a quick 6-3, 6-3 victory over Shannon Rogers on court No. 5.
Kirven, Samford's sophomore from Windermere, Fla., improved her record on the season to a perfect 7-0.
In the No. 6 singles match, the Bulldogs' Lindsey Mallory cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Southern Miss' Frances Askew. With the win, Mallory moved to 4-2 in singles play this season.
The Samford women's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their three-match homestand versus cross-town rival UAB at the Samford Tennis Center.
UNC Greensboro 7, UNC Asheville 0
North Carolina 7, UNC Greensboro 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNC Greensboro split a pair of women's tennis matches against in-state rivals on Saturday, topping UNC Asheville in the morning on the UNCG campus, 4-3, before falling to second-ranked North Carolina, 7-0, in Chapel Hill on Saturday night.
The Spartans (2-1) had to juggle their line-up on Saturday after No. 1 singles player Lucy Dougherty left her doubles match with a wrist injury.
That caused the Spartans to have to bump everyone up one slot in singles play,
Against UNC Asheville, Stephanie Macfarlane, Valerie Behr and Mikayla Rogers came through their instant promotion to lift the Spartans to victory. Rogers clinched the win with a 6-4, 6-4 win over former Spartan Britney Cloer, who transferred to UNC Asheville this season, 6-4 and 6-4.
Against the No. 2-ranked Tar Heels (12-1), Jessica Eblen and Alex Rios won their doubles match, 8-2, over Jelena Durisic and Sophie Grabinski.
However, North Carolina won the other two doubles matches and swept the six singles matches in straight sets to lock up the win.
UNCG returns to action Friday when it hosts East Carolina at 2:30 p.m.
Davidson 6, Radford 1
Virginia Tech 4, Davidson 3
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Davidson women¹s tennis team hit the road for the first time this year and extended their win streak to five straight on Friday with a win over Radford, before seeing the streak come to an end on Saturday after a 4-3 loss to #61 Virginia Tech at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.
Davidson's 5-0 start after Friday was the best since the 2002 squad started 8-0. After their 1-1 weekend, the 'Cats are 5-1 on the season, while Radford fell to 1-2 and VT improved to 4-3.
Davidson opened up the road trip with a solid 6-1 decision behind its strong singles play. After capturing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2, the Wildcats secured wins at five of the six singles matches to seal up their fifth straight win.
Virginia Berry and Teresa Wang scored an 8-2 win for their third as a team, while Alison Rauh and Stephani Synn moved to 3-0 as a pair with an 8-4 victory at No. 2 to earn the doubles point for the 'Cats.
The strong play continued into singles action with Rauh, Wang and Synn each scoring straight set wins at No. 2, 3 and 5 positions. Rauh ran her singles record to 4-1, 4-0 at the No. 2 spot, by earning a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Ivana Tomaic.
Wang and Synn remained unbeaten at 4-0 in singles play after their 6-3, 6-2 and 7-6, 6-1 victories.
Closing out the Wildcats¹ final singles points were Ali Gores and Samantha Galainena with 6-2, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-1 wins at No. 4 and 6. Gores won her fourth straight to run her singles record to 4-1, while Galainena also improved to 4-1.
Saturday¹s contest at Virginia Tech saw the Hokies win three of the singles matches and earn two crucial victories in the doubles matches en route to the victory.
Berry and Wang made it a perfect weekend with an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles, but Tech came back to earn 8-1 triumphs at both No. 2 and 3 doubles for the first point of the match.
Berry regrouped after dropping her singles match on Friday, to take a solid three-set win at No. 1 singles by the scores of 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Joining her in the win column on the afternoon was Galainena (6-1, 6-1 at No. 6) and Synn (6-3, 7-5), who remained a perfect 5-0 in singles action on the year.
Davidson returns home for a matchup against East Tennessee State next Friday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m.
Mercer 4, Western Carolina 3
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's tennis team picked up three victories in singles action, but fell 4-3 in a heartbreaker to the Mercer Bears at the Catamount Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Mercer (3-0) remained unblemished by claiming the doubles point and winning three matches in singles. Western Carolina fell to 1-1 after reeling off a trifecta of victories in singles.
In singles, three Catamounts improved to 2-0 after victories this afternoon. Junior Izabella Glinska picked up an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over Priscilla Dias in the three spot. Sophomore Ainhoa Iglesias Díaz fell in set one 1-6 to the Bears' Amalia Bugge, but rallied to win the second WCU set point with a 6-3 and 6-2.
True freshman Karen Jiménez Sarmiento won in straight sets over Mercer's Cohen, 7-6 (7-5 in the tiebreaker) and 6-2.
Mercer picked up the doubles point as the third doubles tandem of Stephanie Cohen and Sarah Hanna defeated Izabella Glinksa and Emily Turke in a 9-7 tiebreaker. The Catamounts rallied in the set to come back, but were unable to capitalize on two set-point opportunities.
In other doubles action, the number two team of Lainez and Jiménez Sarmiento defeated Mercer's Dias and Anna Wieslander, 8-4. Mercer's Lada and Bugge defeated Massey and Iglesias Díaz, 8-3.
In the one spot, Mercer's Jennifer Lada upended Carolina Lainez 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). While Amanda Massey battled in the number two hole, but fell short 6-3, 7-5. Emily Turke, a native of Raleigh, N.C., fell to Sarah Hanna 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets.
"Obviously, it's a tough loss, but I am proud of the way the girls' battled," noted Catamounts coach Jan Stubbs. "We have shown improvement and these girls have a desire to win. I believe we will continue to get stronger as the season progresses."
The Catamounts will resume action next Wednesday, February 24 against UNC Asheville at the Catamount Athletic Complex. The match is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.
Wake Forest 5, Furman 2
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Paladin senior Jessica Preeg and junior Jennifer Betts posted singles wins as the Furman women's tennis team fell to #65 Wake Forest 5-2 Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C. Preeg recorded a 2-6, 7-5, 10-7 win over Katarina Reveche at number four singles, while Betts defeated Anna Mydlowska 2-6, 6-4, (10-7) in the sixth singles position.
The Demon Deacons opened the match by sweeping the doubles matches to take the doubles point. At number one doubles, Sahsa Kulikova and Emilee Malvehy defeated freshman Lauren Kline and Preeg, 8-4. Aileen Davis and Reveche recorded an 8-6 victory over junior Monica Arugello and freshman Michele Stanford in the second doubles spot, and Kathryn Talbert and Mydlowska posted an 8-3 win over the number three doubles team of junior Jennifer Betts and freshman Olivia Maurice.
In other singles action, Wake Forest's Kulikova beat Kline 6-3, 6-2 at number one singles, and Malvehy defeated Arguello 6-0, 6-4 in the second doubles position. Talbert recorded a 7-6(2), 6-2 win over Stanford at number three singles, and Davis won a close 4-6, 6-4, (10-6 match over Paladin sophomore Susan Bitetti.
Furman (3-4) will play at #6 Duke Sunday at Noon.