Davidson 4, Elon 3
ELON, N.C. - Junior Alison Rauh made it a winning afternoon for both her and the Wildcats when she scored the decisive fourth team point in leading Davidson to a 4-3 Southern Conference victory over Elon on Tuesday afternoon in women's tennis action.
Coming off a well-played 4-3 win vs. its cross-county rival Charlotte to open April, Davidson ran its win streak to four straight in improving to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in league matches. The 4-3 win was the Wildcats' third in a row by that score, while they also won their fourth in a row against a SoCon opponent.
The victory moved the Wildcats past Elon (13-6, 4-3 SoCon) in the league standings into fourth place. The top-four teams advance to this year¹s SoCon Tournament.
For the fifth time this year, Davidson started off the match by sweeping the doubles point. Rauh along with teammate Stephani Synn brought home an 8-4 victory at No. 2, their eighth win as a pair on the season.
Ali Gores and Samantha Galainena got the match started with an 8-3 triumph at No. 3 doubles, while Virginia Berry and Teresa Wang sealed up the point with an 8-4 victory at No. 1, their team-leading 10th on the season.
Synn and Galainena scored the Wildcats' second and third points of the match by pushing their win streaks to five and four, respectively. Synn swept through a 6-2, 6-3 match at No. 3, while Galainena also earned a two-set victory by the count of 6-3, 6-1 at No. 6. Synn, who has the best winning percentage in the conference, ran her record to 12-1 and kept her league record perfect at 5-0.
Galainena improved her singles mark to 11-5, second-best on the team, while running her SoCon mark to 4-2.
Rauh closed out the match win by securing her ninth singles win of the year on a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Briana Berne of Elon at No. 4. The junior also picked up her fourth league win.
UNC Greensboro 4, Liberty 3
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNC Greensboro got four wins at the bottom of its lineup to singles lift the Spartans to a 4-3 win over Liberty in women's tennis action Tuesday afternoon.
Valerie Behr, Mikayla Rogers and Annette Rios each earned straight-set wins, while Sasha Skripkina earned a forfeit win against an injury-plagued Liberty squad. Rios picked up her 20th win of the year, defeated Hannah Fick, 6-0 and 6-3. The freshman from Santa Ana, El Salvador is now 20-7 overall this year, 13-4 on the spring season.
Behr topped Carol Lobel, 6-2 and 6-0 at No. 3 singles, while Rogers handled Fabiana Gouveia at No. 4 singles, 6-2 and 6-1.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they return to conference play and visit Wofford.
Gardner-Webb 4, Western Carolina 3
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. - Western Carolina won three singles matches, but fell, 4-3, to Gardner-Webb on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman Karen Jiménez Sarmiento highlighted the match by winning her third consecutive singles point. The Catamounts fell to 3-11 overall, while the Bulldogs improved to 11-7.
Gardner-Webb snagged the doubles point after a duo of Rita Gouveia/Ioana Oprea defeated Jiménez Sarmiento/Carolina Lainez, 8-5. The Bulldogs won the number one doubles slot as Kasey Ellis and Erica White combined to down WCU's Amanda Massey and Ainhoa Iglesias Díaz, 8-6. The Catamounts did break the trend with an 8-5 victory by Emily Turke and Izabella Glinska over Tavenner Black and Ronia Hutterli.
Jiménez Sarmiento defeated Huttlerli in three sets (6-7, 6-1, 6-4) to win her fifth match out of her last six contests. The freshman from Bogotá D.C., Colombia has a team-leading seven wins on the season.
Sophomore Iglesias Díaz dropped her first set 7-5, before reeling off two consecutive victories, 6-4,6-3, to defeat GWU's Kasey Ellis. Freshman Carolina Lainez won WCU's third point on the afternoon after defeating Gouveia, 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets.
Gardner-Webb's White won the top-singles match over Glinska, 6-1, 6-2. Massey, a senior on the Catamount squad, battled in her two-set match with Opera, but fell 2-6, 6-7 (10-7). In the six slot, the Bulldogs' Black defeated Emily Turke, 6-3, 6-2.
Western Carolina will travel in their last road match of the season on Saturday, April 10 at rival Appalachian State. The match is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first serve.
UNC Asheville 4, Appalachian State 3
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's tennis posted a solid performance but came up just short, as the Mountaineers dropped a 4-3 decision to non-conference opponent UNC Asheville Tuesday afternoon. With the loss, Appalachian falls to 7-11 overall, while UNCA improves to 12-6 on the season.
In doubles action, the duo of Laura Janke and Gisela Fernandez faced a two tough competitors in Louise Bottomley and Devon Cavanaugh and suffered a close 9-8 defeat at the number two spot. Despite the early loss, Jennifer Ansari and Caroline Mauch cruised past their opponents at the three spot, easily earning an 8-4 victory.
With the doubles point on the line, Olivia Stannard and Ellie Linsell pushed Leslie Smith and Stephanie Schon to the brink, but could not come away with the victory, falling in a 9-7 heartbreaker and giving UNCA the early 1-0 match lead.
Things did not get much easier in singles play, as Janke was defeated 6-3, 6-3 by Britney Cloer at the six slot.
Fernandez got the Apps on the board with her strong play, as she easily won, picking up a 6-3, 6-2 win, putting ASU on the board down 2-1.
However, Blakeley Bean had a tough time at the four spot, after falling narrowly 7-6 in the first set, she lost 6-2 in the second.
Linsell was able to keep the Mountaineers alive, defeating Smith 6-3, 7-5 at the number one position, to make Appalachian down just 3-2, with the Black and Gold having to win in the final two matches to earn the match victory.
After losing 6-2 in the first set, Mauch rallied a comeback grabbing a 6-3 win in the second set, but could not hang with Bottomley at the three spot, dropping a 6-3 decision in the third set giving the Bulldogs the match win.
In the final singles match, Ansari was victorious in three hard fought sets, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
The Mountaineers continue with non-conference play, as they return to action Thursday April 8, taking on Charlotte at 2:30 p.m. at the ASU Tennis Courts.