Samford 6, Chattanooga 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University women's tennis team extended its winning streak to six-consecutive matches Thursday as the Bulldogs cruised to a 6-1 victory against the Chattanooga Lady Mocs in a Southern Conference duel held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the win, second-place Samford (14-5, 6-1 SoCon) tallied its fifth straight win at home and improved its record at the Samford Tennis Center to 10-2 this season. The Bulldogs' last home loss occurred March 5 against Georgia State, while their most recent overall defeat occurred March 16 on the road versus 70th-ranked North Florida.
Samford swept all three of Thursday's doubles matches and then breezed to straight-set singles victories on courts No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. Winning in singles play for the Bulldogs were Taylor Morgan, Madelie Janse van Rensburg, Stephanie Parkison, Rebecca Kirven and Lindsey Mallory.
Chattanooga (7-11, 3-5 SoCon) picked up its lone victory in Thursday's match at the No. 2 singles contest.
Mallory, Samford's sophomore native of Louisville, Ky., extended her winning streak to six-consecutive matches in singles play. While competing on court No. 6, Mallory defeated the Mocs' Jennifer Taylor, 6-1, 6-4, to improve her record on the season to 13-5.
The Bulldogs' Kirven also tallied a straight-set victory Thursday and moved her dual-match record on the season to 14-4. In doubles play, Samford's No. 2 tandem of Kirven and Andrie Meiring earned its seventh-consecutive victory with an 8-5 win against Chattanooga's duo of Emily Hangstefer and Charlotte Bossy, 8-5.
Appalachian State 4, Charlotte 3
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's tennis snapped a five-match losing streak, as the Mountaineers rallied for a 4-3 victory over non-conference opponent Charlotte Thursday evening. With the win, ASU improves to 8-11 on the season, while the 49ers fall to 4-14 overall.
The match got off to a tough start, as the Black and Gold fell just short in doubles play, earning just one win in three matches.
The duo of Laura Janke and Gisela Fernandez were quite impressive, easily defeating their competitors at the two spot, winning 8-4. However, Ellie Linsell and Olivia Stannard were not able to hang on, suffering a close 8-6 loss to Alexandra Zinn and Ana Spivakovsky at the one position.
In the last doubles match, Caroline Mauch and Jennifer Ansari battled, but Kimber Redfern and Andrea Rivera were able to eek out the victory, winning 9-8 (9-7 in the tiebreaker) and putting Charlotte up 1-0 early.
In singles play, Stannard lost in two sets, falling 6-2, 6-0 at the six spot, but Linsell was able to put ASU on the board, as she cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win at the number one slot.
Unfortunately, after handily winning 6-1 in the first set, Mauch lost in the next two sets losing 1-6, 1-6 and the Apps faced a 3-1 deficit.
Able to muster a comeback Ansari squeaked out a three set victory. After losing 4-6 in the first set, the Greensboro, N.C. native handed Rivera a 6-2 second set loss and 7-6 third set defeat to keep the Apps alive.
Blakeley Bean posted an impressive performance as well, downing Gabi Vergara 6-3, 6-2 to even the match score at three all.
In the final singles match of the contest, Fernandez continued with her winning ways, defeating Candace Cunningham 6-3, 7-5 to earn ASU the exciting 4-3 victory.
Appalachian has little rest, as the Black and Gold continue with its homestand and take to the court Saturday April 10. ASU will battle conference foe Western Carolina at 1 p.m. at the ASU Tennis Courts.