College of Charleston 6, UNC Greensboro 1
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - No. 67 College of Charleston women's tennis knocked off 66th-ranked UNC Greensboro, 6-1, on Saturday morning at the Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (9-5, 4-0 SoCon) retain their unbeaten streak in the Southern Conference while the Spartans (5-3, 1-1 SoCon) dropped to 1-1 in the league.
Senior Holly Dowse and junior Emma Hayman started off the morning with an 8-4 win for their eighth victory of the season as CofC's top doubles team. Senior Laura Borza and sophomore Caroline Newman clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 victory over Spartans Mikayla Rogers and Valerie Behr at the No. 3 spot.
The Cougars picked up five points in singles action, winning at No. 1-4 and 6 spots. Hayman won her second singles match of the week at the No. 2 spot, taking down Greensboro's Stephanie Macfarlane 6-1, 6-4. Southern Conference Player of the Week Kinsey Casey and junior Keely Mulligan also won their matches in straight sets at the No. 4 and 6 positions, respectively.
Dowse defeated Spartans' top seed Alex Whitehead in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 for fifth victory this year as the No. 1 seed. Wrapping up the match for the Cougars was Newman, who earned a 7-6, 6-3 win over Valerie Behr.
The team also participated in United States Tennis Association Day, providing snacks to children in attendance and holding an autograph session following their victory.
Charleston takes a five-match break from its conference schedule, beginning with a pair of non-conference matches on Sunday. The Cougars will host Jacksonville State at 10 a.m. at Patriots Point before facing No. 36 Oklahoma in a 4 p.m. afternoon match.
Samford 6, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. --- The Samford University women's tennis team tallied its second straight victory Saturday as the Bulldogs cruised to a 6-1 Southern Conference win on the road against the Davidson Wildcats at the Covington Tennis Center.
In the triumph, Samford (8-4, 1-1 SoCon) rallied to win the doubles point and then breezed to straight-set singles victories on courts No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6.
Davidson (7-4, 0-1 SoCon) picked up its lone singles win at the No. 4 position. With their loss, the Wildcats suffered a second straight defeat and opened conference play with an 0-1 record for the second year in a row.
Samford won Saturday's doubles point with victories from Lindsey Mallory and Taylor Morgan on court No. 1, as well as a triumph from Madelie Janse van Rensburg and Stephanie Parkison in the No. 3 doubles contest. Mallory and Morgan were victorious by a score of 8-6, while the Bulldogs' combination of Janse van Rensburg and Parkison also earned an 8-6 decision.
In singles play, Samford's Morgan won her second straight match on court No. 1, while Rebecca Kirven improved her team-leading record to 10-1 with a 6-3, 6-3, victory in the No. 5 singles battle. Morgan, the Bulldogs' talented junior from Jacksonville, Fla., improved her singles record on the season to 8-3.
Samford also received singles victories from Andrie Meiring on court No. 2, Janse van Rensburg on court No. 3 and Mallory on court No. 6. With her second straight win, Janse van Rensburg improved her record on the season to 6-5.
Georgia Southern 7, Wofford 0
STATESBORO, Ga. - Freshman Natalie Maffett picked up her first dual match
singles win of the season as Georgia Southern earned a 7-0 sweep over Wofford Saturday afternoon (March 13) at the Hanner Tennis Complex. The win moved the Eagles to 6-4 on the season and 2-0 in Southern Conference play, while the Terriers dropped to 1-11, 0-1.
Escaping the rain later in the afternoon, Georgia Southern opened play with a sweep of the doubles matches for the early 1-0 lead. Kristi Kegerreis and Christine Caforio kicked off doubles action with an 8-2 triumph over Stephanie Cox and Lucy Schermerhorn at the three seed. The Eagle pair of Ali Beavers and Maffett clinched the early point downing Guinn Garcia and Lindsay Larkin by the same margin. Meanwhile, the junior tandem of Melanie Rolle and Ashley Hungerford completed the doubles sweep with an 8-6 decision from the two seed over Sabrina Smyers and Haley Baird.
Three straight set matches made the conference match final as singles action got underway. Starring at the top seed, Beavers dropped only one game en route to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Smyers. Jessica Fuller pushed the Eagles to the brink of victory downing Schermerhorn, 6-2, 6-3, at the six seed moments before fellow senior classmate Kegerreis clinched the match at the four seed. Kegerreis uprooted Larkin, 6-1, 6-1 to move GS to 2-0 in SoCon play.
Georgia Southern added another three singles victories to complete the match sweep. Hungerford bypassed Cox in straight 6-4 sets at No. 5 before Maffett and Rolle rebounded from first set losses to come-from-behind for super tiebreak wins.
Maffett finished first at No. 3, coming back from a 6-0 first set loss to take the second, 6-3. The freshman proved victorious in the super tiebreak, 10-6, to record her first collegiate career dual match singles win of the season. Junior Rolle battled back from a 6-3 first set loss with a 6-3 second set win. Rolle then downed Baird in the super tiebreak, 10-5, for the win to complete the match sweep.
Elon 7, Western Carolina 0
ELON, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's tennis team fell, 5-0, to Elon on Saturday in a match that was shortened due to rainfall in the area. The Catamounts (1-5, 0-3 SoCon) dropped their fifth consecutive match as Elon improved to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in the Southern Conference.
Elon took all three doubles matches including winning the one awarded point with the number three duo. Briana Berne and Laura Graybill defeated WCU's Emily Turke and Izabella Glinska, 8-0, to earn the doubles point.
Karen Jiménez Sarmiento and Katie Barry fell 8-3 to Elon's Paige Kensrue and Lauren Sessoms. In the number one doubles set, Anna Milian and Elisa Simonetti defeated the Catamounts' Amanda Massey and Ainhoa Iglesias Díaz, 8-3.
In singles action, Barry fell in her season debut to Graybill, 0-6, 0-6. WCU graduate student Emily Turke lost, 0-6, 0-6, to the Phoenix's Sessoms.
Glinska dropped a straight-set to Kensrue, 0-6, before battling and falling short in set two, 4-6. Massey, a senior on the Catamount squad, also lost in straight sets to Milian, 0-6, 0-6.
Furman 5, Glorida Gulf Coast 2
FORT MEYERS, Fla. -- The Furman women's tennis team defeated Florida Gulf Coast, 5-2, in a five-hour marathon match under windy conditions Saturday afternoon in Fort Meyers, Fla.
The Eagles won the doubles point to take an early lead with wins at number one and two doubles. Jessica Sweeting and Katharine Evans defeated Paladin freshman Lauren Kline and senior Jessica Preeg 8-6 at number one, while Iris Rendon and Bibiana Almeida posted a 9-8(5) win over junior Jennifer Betts and freshman Michele Stanford. Furman picked up a win at number three doubles, where junior Monica Arguello teamed with freshman Olivia Maurice to defeat Priscillia Villemond and Eva Sambrano 9-8(1).
Four out of the six singles matches were decided in the third set, with Furman posting victories in five of the six matches. Arfuello defeated Villemond 6-3, 6-2 at number one singles, and Kline defeated Sweeting 6-4, 6-2 in the number two singles spot. At number three singles, Preeg pulled out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Rendon, and Susan Bitetti recorded a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Almeida in the fifth singles match. Betts was victorious at number six singles, with a 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4 decision over Morgan Bechtel.
Florida Gulf Coast's lone singles win came at number four singles, where Melissa Narzisenfeld defeated Paladin freshman Michele Stanford 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Furman (6-5) will play host to East Carolina on Thursday at 3 p.m.