Wofford 7, North Carolina A&T 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The women's tennis team earned a 7-0 victory against North Carolina A&T in the first home match of the 2011 season. The Terriers went undefeated on the day, winning every doubles and singles match. Their success gives the women's tennis program their first win of the season, improving their record to 1-1 on the year.
Each of the starting doubles pairs earned their first doubles victories of the year. Haley Baird and Guinn Garcia started at the No. 1 position and beat their competition 8-0. Emilia "Frenchie" Milovanovic paired up with Sarah Evans and the duo beat their Aggies opposition 8-1. Freshmen Samantha Sullivan and Meagan Laframboise earned their first starts as Terriers and received their first career victories, pairing up at the No. 3 spot and winning 8-1.
As a team, the Terriers only gave up five sets in singles play on the day. Milovanovic started at the No. 1 position and won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1. Milovanovic is currently undefeated on the year with a 2-0 record in singles play.
Milovanovic commented after the match, "I am really proud of my team today. I am also very excited about our first win of the season and I look forward to many more because we've worked really hard and still do everyday. The match today was a good match to boost our confidence and I look forward to what we can accomplish through hard work and dedication."
Freshman Sarah Evans also stayed undefeated, pushing to a 6-0, 6-0 win, giving her a 2-0 singles record on the season. Garcia, Baird, Julia Paulson, and Lucy Schermerhorn grabbed their first singles victories of the year, beating their respective opponents in straight sets.
The Terriers will stay at home next weekend as they face the South Carolina State Bulldogs February 5th. The match will start at 2:00 p.m. in Reeves Tennis Center.
Davidson 5, Radford 2
Davidson 4, UNC Asheville 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Senior Samantha Galainena ran her season singles mark to 3-0 as she helped clinch a sweep of Radford (5-2) and UNC Asheville (4-3) by earning the winning match-point in both matches to help Davidson run its season mark to 3-1 on Saturday at the Knobloch Indoor Tennis Center.
Galainena, coming off a career junior campaign which saw her go 16-5 in singles action, cruised in both her singles on the afternoon, allowing just three total games. She scored a 6-1, 6-0 win over Radford's Sara Tegner at No. 5 to earn the winning point in the Wildcats match vs. the Highlanders.
Then, with the team score at 3-2 vs. the Bulldogs (0-1), the senior rattled off a 6-2, 6-0 win over Nicole Schon to clich the match. Galainena also scored an 8-1 doubles win with Romina Clemente vs. UNCA to help the 'Cats captured the doubles points.
In both matches vs. Radford (1-1) and UNC Asheville, Davidson started by taking two of the three doubles matches to open up a 1-0 lead.
Fellow senior Alison Rauh was also perfect on the afternoon in singles play, coming up with a 6-1, 7-5 triumph vs. Ivana Tomaic of Radford and then a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Zoe Hamel. Both wins came at the No. 2 position as Rauh earned her 24th and 25th career singles wins. She also earned a doubles win with freshman Brites Moniz-Soares at No. 2 against Radford.
Moniz-Soares ran her singles mark to 3-0 after a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Mirna Matic at No. 4 vs. Radford, but suffered her first collegiate defeat in the afternoon vs. UNCA, a 6-2, 6-2 setback to Stephanie Schon.
Clemente won a 6-4, 6-2 singles match vs. Radford to improve to 2-0 on the year, while Tamara Hill (Bulter, Pa.) earned a default win vs. the Bulldogs, who were not able to fill the No. 6 singles spot, allowing the 'Cats a free point in the match.
The Wildcats, in the midst of seven-match homestand to open the season, opens the month of February on the 1st with a 5:15 match against East Carolina at the Knobloch Indoor Tennis Center.
Chattanooga 6, Belmont 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team won its season-opener 6-1 over Belmont at the Hixson Racquet Club today. The Lady Mocs won two of three doubles and five of six singles matches to score the win.
The Lady Mocs opened the afternoon with an 8-1 victory at No. 1 doubles. Sophomore Jenna Nurik and junior Shaina Singh made quick work of Abby Leatherwood and Fabian Mersan in the opening match.
UTC took the doubles point when junior Emily Hangstefer and freshman Alexa Flynn defeated Lindsey Bennett and Laura State 8-3 at No. 2.
The Lady Mocs took the next four singles matches in straight sets to clinch the win. Nurik defeated Mersan 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 while Hangstefer took out Leatherwood 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2. Flynn had a strong win at No. 3 in her first dual match action. She defeated Bennett 6-2, 7-5.
Singh won at No. 4 over Catherine Holliday 6-4, 6-2 while senior Grace Robinette posted a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) win over Stack at No 5.
The Lady Mocs are back in action on Friday, Feb. 4 when they host MTSU at the Hixson Racquet Club. Match time is set for 6:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) at live scoring will be available on GoMocs.com.
Florida 6, College of Charleston 0
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The College of Charleston women's tennis team held its own in a 6-0 loss to second-ranked and 2010 NCAA runner-up Florida in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend held Saturday afternoon at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
The Cougars (0-1), who were ranked No. 69 in the first edition of the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Team Rankings on Jan. 25, dueled it out with the Gators (2-0) in the one hour, 20-minute match.
The CofC doubles tandem of senior Emma Hayman and sophomore Irene Viana held serve with the top-ranked Florida duo of Sofie Oyen and Allie Will up until 3-all and had a chance to go up 4-3, before the doubles point was decided at the No. 3 line. It was Viana's first start at No. 1 doubles.
Sophomore Christin Newman, a transfer and regionally-ranked player from Virginia Tech, had a tough task at hand against No. 7-ranked Allie Will at the top of the singles order. But, every game went to deuce in a 6-0, 6-0 decision at the No. 1 line. Will was one of five nationally-ranked players in the Florida lineup including Sofie Oyen, who clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over senior Kinsey Casey at No. 3 singles.
"The final scores aren't reflective of the matches," said Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo, who is in his 20th season with the two-time defending Southern Conference champion Cougars. "We had some close games. They were just tougher in finishing off points and that's why they are ranked No. 2 in the country. I was proud of our performance today. We fought and competed hard. We would be up early in the point, but they just play at a higher level longer in the point and we aren't used to that pace."
CofC will face William & Mary (1-2) tomorrow in the consolation match scheduled for 10 a.m. (ET).
"We learned a lot from this match and what we need to do to get better," Anastopoulo said. "It's a great motivational tool to play teams at this level. We will have a tough match tomorrow against William & Mary and we will see how well we can respond and recover from the loss today. It's really how you show up on the second day and this has challenged our players to raise their game higher."
The ITA Kick-Off Weekend is college tennis' premier season-opening event which features 15 men's and 15 women's teams serving as host sites with four teams at each site vying to advance to the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship hosted by the University of Virginia on Feb. 18-21 at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.