East Tennessee State 6, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Sophomore Stephani Synn registered her sixth straight win in singles action, but it was not enough to overcome a strong day by the East Tennessee State Buccaneers as they took a 6-1 decision over Davidson in women's tennis action on Friday afternoon at the Knobloch Tennis Center.
Playing its seventh home match out of its first nine overall to start the season, the Wildcats fell to 5-2 on the season, while ETSU, which was ranked in the top-75 last week, improved to 3-2. It was the Wildcats first defeat at home.
The match started out with the Buccaneers sweeping the doubles point by taking 8-4, 8-6 an 8-3 decisions at No. 1-3. The Wildcat team of Virginia Berry and Teresa Wang saw their team-best four-match win streak come to an end with their 8-4 defeat at No. 1. They fell to 4-2 on the season.
Synn was the lone Davidson player to score a win in singles play as the Buccaneers captured the other five matches in straight sets. The sophomore ran her win streak to six straight to open the 2010 season by earning a 6-4, 6-4 win over Diana Navrostska at the No. 5 position. She is 3-0 on the season at that spot.
Seeing her two-match singles win streak snapped was Samantha Galainena, who fell by the scores of 6-0 and 6-1 at No. 6.
Junior Alison Rauh nearly got the OCats second point, forcing two tiebreakers at the No. 2 position, but in the end fell to Kelly Holtzhausen, 7-6, 7-6.
Davidson heads to Charleston, S.C. next week for two non-conference neutral site matches. The Wildcats will play Case Western Reserve, Mar. 6, and then take on Richmond, Mar. 7. Both matches will to be played at College of Charleston and are set for 2 p.m. starts.
Georgia State 6, Georgia Southern 1
ATLANTA, GA - In the home opener for Georgia State, the Georgia Southern Eagles dropped a tough 6-1 decision to the Panthers Friday afternoon (Feb. 26) at Piedmont Park. Senior Christine Caforio recorded the Eagles' lone win of the afternoon with a straight set win at the six singles seed.
Georgia Southern falls to 4-3 with the loss, while Georgia State picked up its first win of the season, improving to 1-6.
The Panthers won a hard fought doubles point with a sweep of the matches. Challenging Katerina Gresova and Tereza Lerova at the two seed, Ashley Hungerford and Kristi Kegerreis dropped a tight 8-4 decision to the Panther pair. Meanwhile, Ali Beavers and Natalie Maffett fought Diana Nakic and Linda Hricistova at the top seed, suffering an 8-5 loss as Georgia State clinched the early point. The Panthers closed out doubles play with an 8-4 decision at the three seed before singles play got underway.
Three straight set victories sealed the match win for Georgia State in singles action. Nakic walked away with a win first from No. 1 singles, taking a 6-1, 6-1 decision over Beavers before Lerova defeated Maffett from the two position, 6-0, 6-3. Kegerreis fell to Kir Kemp at No. 3, 6-3, 6-1, for the match win in favor of the Panthers.
Jessica Fuller drew her second set to a 7-5 score, as the senior fell 6-2, 7-5 to Linda Hricistova from the fifth seed. With the match decision set, Hungerford and Gresova played a third set tiebreaker as the opponents split the first two sets. Gresova took the first, 6-1, before Hungerford battled back in the second for a 7-5 win. Gresova was victorious in the super tiebreak, 10-4, pushing the Panthers in front, 6-0.
Senior Caforio, playing at the No. 6 seed, faced off against Lindsay Hearn. Caforio dropped only three games for a 6-2, 6-1 triumph, putting Georgia Southern on the board, 6-1.
The Eagles return to play and close out this two-game road swing at UAB on Saturday, February 27. First serve is slated for 11 a.m.