Elon 5, UNC Greensboro 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Elon women's tennis team closed out the 2010 Southern Conference regular season with a 5-2 victory over local rival UNC Greensboro at the UNCG Courts on Wednesday afternoon. With its 15th victory of the season, the Phoenix tied the school record for wins during the Division I era, set originally by the 2008 squad. Elon's (15-7, 6-4) six league wins were also tied for the most, matching the league win total of the 2007 Phoenix team. The Spartans dropped to 10-10 overall and 4-6 in conference action.
Despite dropping the doubles point to give UNCG the early lead, Elon stormed back in singles action and earned four of its five victories in straight sets. Phoenix senior Paige Kensrue extended her winning streak to five straight, dropping only one game in a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Stephanie Macfarlane at number two.
Anna Milian won her 18th match and moved to 9-1 in the SoCon, topping Alex Whitehead, 6-1, 7-6 (0) at number one. During her three-year career with the Phoenix, Milian compiled a dominant 24-5 mark against league opponents. Sophomore Elisa Simonetti posted her third consecutive win, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Valerie Behr on court three, as the Phoenix took a 3-1 lead.
Berne solidified the Phoenix win when she earned a 6-1, 6-2 result over Mikayla Rogers at number four. The Elon rookie improved to 12-8 on the season. Senior Laura Graybill was also victorious in her final league match, battling out a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 decision against Sasha Skripkina. UNCG's lone singles point came at number five. Lauren Sessoms and Annette Rios split sets and with the match already decided played a super tiebreaker to determine the winner. Rios managed to take the 10-8 tiebreak and the 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (8) win.
UNC Greensboro came away with wins in all three doubles matches that gave the Spartans a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
Davidson 6, Wofford 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Starting their final leg of matches this week, the Davidson women's tennis team got things rolling on a positive note with a 6-1 decision over host Wofford on Wednesday afternoon in Southern Conference action.
Davidson took home its 14th win of the season (14-6), while moving its SoCon mark to 6-2 and keeping hold of fourth place in the league standings. The Wildcats, ending their six-match road swing with a 5-1 record, have been on a hot streak of late, rattling off wins in seven of their last nine matches with all six of their league wins coming during that span.
Wofford fell to 1-21 overall and 0-10 in league matches.
The 'Cats fell behind early 1-0 after Wofford took two of the three matches in doubles action. The duo of Alison Rauh and Stephani Synn earned the lone win in doubles play for Davidson with an 8-0 blanking of Lindsay Larkin and Lucy Schermerhorn at No. 2. The pair of Wildcats improved to 6-2 in league matches and became the second doubles team to reach 10 wins on the season, running their record to 10-6.
Rauh and Synn, along with four other Wildcats turned it up in singles action, taking all six slots to cruise to the 6-1 win. Rauh evened her record on the year at 10-10 with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Schermerhorn at No. 5.
Her playing partner, Synn, continued her strong play during her sophomore campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3. The sophomore leads the SoCon in winning percentage as she is a team-best 14-2 overall and remained unbeaten in league play at 7-0.
The senior duo of Virginia Berry and Teresa Wang picked up their 12th and 11th wins, respectively, at the No. 1 and 2 positions. Berry (12-7, 4-4 SoCon) held off Haley Baird with a 7-5, 6-4 win, while Wang (11-8, 5-3 SoCon) won her second straight with a 6-3, 6-0 decision over Guinn Garcia.
Senior Ali Gores matched Rauh by blanking her opponent, 6-0, 6-0, for her third straight win. She evened her singles mark on the year to 9-9.
Picking up the 'Cats' last point was Samantha Galainena, who tallied her personal-best seventh win in a row after a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Sonia Anand at No. 6. The junior matched Synn for team-high honors in singles wins with 14, while running her league mark to 6-2. She is 9-4 at the No. 6 position this year as well.
Western Carolina 5, North Carolina Central 2
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina swept the doubles action and picked up three wins in singles play to down North Carolina Central, 5-2, at the Catamount Athletic Complex on Wednesday afternoon. The Catamounts (4-13) snagged their fourth victory of the season, as the Eagles fell to 10-13.
Western Carolina swept all three doubles matches this season - the first since Brevard College on Feb. 13. WCU's tandem of Emily Turke and Izabella Glinska claimed the lone doubles point by defeating Maria Medina and Tatiana Velasquez, 8-1. The top flight of doubles finished next as Western's Ainhoa Iglesias Díaz and Carolina Lainez knocked off Kateryna Chorna and Oleysa Palko, 8-3. Amanda Massey and Karen Jiménez Sarmiento won their second match together in the doubles two-slot, 8-5, over Cameron Chatman and Ashley Rogers.
Jiménez Sarmiento claimed her team-best eighth win of the season by downing Velasquez, 6-0, 6-0 in straight sets. Iglesias Díaz, a sophomore on the squad, claimed a, 6-0, 6-1, victory over NCCU's Rogers.
The Eagles then rallied to win the next two points as Chatman defeated Massey, 6-2, 6-1. WCU's Glinka fell, 4-6, 1-6, to Palko in the top spot as the Eagles narrowed their deficit to 3-2.
The freshman Lainez secured the Catamount victory and won her fourth consecutive singles match as she throttled N.C. Central's Chorna, 6-3, 7-5. The four-match win streak for Lainez is the most of any Catamount this season.
Turke closed the door on the contest with a, 7-5, 6-1, win over Medina in the six spot.
Western Carolina will host its final match of the season on Sunday, April 18 with SoCon foe Samford. The Catamounts will honor two members for Senior Day as Amanda Massey and Emily Turke will play in their final match at the Catamount Athletic Complex. The first serve will start at 11:00.