Davidson 7, Western Carolina 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Playing their third match in a four-day stretch, the Davidson women¹s tennis team ended a busy week in winning style, blanking the Western Carolina Catamounts, 7-0, to earn their first Southern Conference win of the season on Sunday afternoon at the Covington Tennis Courts.
The week saw Davidson play No. 65 Winthrop, Samford and Western all at home as the 'Cats improved to 8-4 overall and 1-1 in league play. WCU fell to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in league matches.
For the fourth time this year, the Wildcats started off the match by sweeping all three doubles matches in setting the tone for the afternoon. The senior duo of Virginia Berry and Teresa Wang captured their team-leading seventh doubles win with an 8-2 victory at No. 1.
Alison Rauh and Stephani Synn, the lone doubles team to win yesterday vs. Samford, remained perfect in league play with an 8-0 blanking of the Catamounts¹ No. 2 team, while senior Ali Gores and junior Samantha Galainena closed out the doubles point with an 8-1 win at No. 3.
Five of those Wildcats then cruised to straight set singles wins in leading to a clean sweep of all six spots. Berry evened her SoCon singles record to 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Amanda Massey.
Wang was equally impressive in her singles triumph over Izabella Glinska at No. 2, taking home a 6-1, 6-3 victory to run her singles mark to 7-4, same as Berry.
Gores played a super tiebreaker (10-5) after splitting her first two sets, 6-2, 3-6, at No. 4, while Galainena gave up just two games to Emily Turke at No. 5 for a 6-2, 6-0 win, her seventh of the season.
Rauh got back on the winning track, snapping a six-match skid with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 3.
Closing out the Wildcats¹ last point was Katharine Dicconson with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 6 over Katie Barry to remain perfect on the season at 4-0 in singles play. In all four matches this year, she has allowed no more than three games to be scored against her and has given up just a combined two games in her last two matches.
Chattanooga 5, Appalachian State 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team scored a 5-2 win over Appalachian State today. The Lady Mocs raced out to a 3-0 lead, then held off a late charge from the Mountaineers to score their first win in Southern Conference action.
Chattanooga snapped a four-match losing streak to improve to 3-7 on the season and 1-3 in SoCon action. ASU dropped to 6-5 overall and 0-1 in the SoCon. Today's match was originally scheduled for UTC's outdoor courts, but had to move to the indoor surfaces at the Hixson Racquet Club due to rain in the Chattanooga area.
The Lady Mocs opened with back-to-back wins to take the doubles point. Sophomore Emily Hangstefer and junior Grace Robinette teamed at No. 1 for an 8-2 victory over ASU's Ellies Linsell and Olivia Stannard. It was Hangstefer and Robinette's first win since being paired in doubles action three matches ago.
Freshman Jenna Nurik and sophomore Shaina Singh clinched the point with an 8-4 win over Blakely Bean and Gisela Fernandez at No. 2. It was the second-straight win for the pair in doubles action. The No. 3 doubles bout was called with the scored knotted at five.
Hangstefer put UTC up 2-0 with a quick 6-2, 6-3 win over Stannard at No. 3. Hangstefer snapped a personal four-match slide in singles play and improved to 10-9 on the year.
Nurik followed that up with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Linsell at No. 1 to give UTC a 3-0 lead. Chattanooga only needed one more win in the final four matches, but Appalachian State made it interesting with some gritty play.
Jennifer Anasari put ASU on the board with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Singh at No. 2. The final three matches all went three sets, including a 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-2 win by Bean over sophomore Charlotte Bossy. That drew the overall tally to 3-2, still in favor of the Lady Mocs.
Robinette was wrapped up in a tough battle with Carolina Mauch at No. 4 all afternoon. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Robinette dropped the second set 6-3. The pair fought all the way to the end as Robinette sealed the team win with a 7-5 victory in the third set.
Freshman Jennifer Taylor rounded out the scoring with a 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9) win at No. 6
Georgia Southern 4, UNC Greensboro 3
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern claimed two of three doubles matches to defeat UNC Greensboro, 4-3, in a women's tennis match that was finished Sunday morning after it was suspended by rain on Friday.
The teams had played the singles matches first on Friday, in hopes of beating the inclement weather. However, they split the six matches and rain moved in before the doubles matches could be played.
The Lady Eagles (7-4, 3-0) then won two of the three doubles matches when played resumed at 9 a.m. on Sunday to hand UNCG its fourth straight setback.
Alex Whitehead, Stephanie Macfarlane and Sasha Skripkina each earned victories in the singles action played on Friday. Jess Eblen and Annette Rios won in doubles action on Sunday, raising their record to 17-7 overall on the season, including a 9-1 mark during the spring season.
UNCG, ranked No. 66 in the ITA Top 75 this week, fell to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in the league.
CollegeOklahoma 5, College of Charleston 2 of Charleston 6, Jacksonville State 1
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - No. 67 College of Charleston beat Jacksonville State University 6-1, before falling to 36th-ranked Oklahoma 5-2 on Sunday at the Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (11-6, 4-0 SoCon) began the day with a morning match against the Gamecocks (6-6, 2-0 OVC) of the Ohio Valley Conference. After sweeping the doubles competition, CofC won singles matches No. 1-5 to seal the team's sixth non-conference victory this year. Junior Emma Hayman earned her first victory as the No. 1 seed, edging Viviane Marani 6-1, 0-6, 7-5. Hayman also partnered with senior Holly Dowse to defeat Marani and her partner, Martina Dessbesell, 8-2 at the No. 1 doubles position.
Senior Anna Lee Evans won all three of her matches on Sunday. She teamed up with senior Laura Borza to beat Jacksonville State's Kimberly Ferris and Raphaela Lima at the No. 2 doubles spot for the pair's third win of the season. She later defeated Raphaela Wenzel as the fifth seed in singles 6-0, 6-1. After Oklahoma swept the doubles competition, Lee Evans earned the Cougars' first point with a 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 5 Tara Eckel to close the gap to 2-1.
Sophomore Caroline Newman earned the other point for Charleston against Oklahoma to finish 2-0 on the day in singles action. Newman won a close 7-5, 6-3 decision over Maria Kalashnikova as the third seed. She defeated JSU's Julianna Renesto 6-2, 6-0 earlier in the day and now holds a 10-1 record from the No. 3 spot.
Hayman held No. 2 Marie-Pier Huet to a lengthy battle before eventually falling to the Sooner in the third set. Hayman won the first set 7-5 and stayed close before yielding 6-4, 10-6 in the ensuing sets. Oklahoma improved to 8-1 on the year with the win.
The Cougars wrapped up a week of five home matches with their second doubleheader in five days. Head coach Angelo Anastopaulo's squad is now 6-6 is non-conference play and 2-5 against nationally-ranked teams.
Georgia Southern 7, Bethune-Cookman 0
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern won every match on nine courts rolling past Bethune-Cookman, 7-0, Sunday afternoon (March 14) at the Hanner Tennis Complex to cap a weekend of undefeated play. The Eagles captured six singles matches in straight sets and swept the doubles for the early lead. With the win, GS improved to 8-4 overall.
"We had an outstanding weekend and the team worked really hard to come out with three victories," said head coach Amy Bonner. "I'm so proud of the way we came together as a team, supported each other and stayed positive throughout the weekend. It is a great momentum booster as we face tough Southern Conference competition ahead."
Georgia Southern quickly grabbed the doubles point with the No. 2 seed, Kristi Kegerreis and Christine Caforio taking the first match, 8-2. The top seed, Ali Beavers and Natalie Maffett secured the point with an 8-3 decision before Melanie Rolle and Taylor Jones completed the sweep with an 8-4 decision at No. 3.
The Eagles wasted no time finalizing the match with three early straight set wins at courts two, six and four. Rolle finished first, carrying a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Shereen Peterson-Paul at No. 2, while Alexandra Langmo grabbed a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Brittany Davis at the six seed.
Hungerford clinched the non-conference match for the Eagles at the four seed. The junior downed Eva Hankova in the first set, 6-0, and crushed the Lady Wildcat in the second, 6-1, to seal the win for GS.
Georgia Southern tacked on three more straight set singles wins to close out the match. Allison Beeler proved victorious at the five seed, 7-5, 6-1, before Beavers took a victory at the top seed, 6-4, 6-1. Kegerreis closed out the match with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 win at No. 3.
The Eagles take a few days break before returning to the hard courts on Saturday, March 20 against Southern Conference opponent Furman. First serve at the Hanner Tennis Complex is slated for 11 a.m.