Wofford 4, Georgia Southern 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford women's tennis team defeated Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon, grabbing its first conference win of the season. The last three matches the women's team played in have come down to the final singles match, after a 4-3 win against UNC Charlotte (2/24) and 3-4 loss against SC State (2/21) and today's 4-3 finish. The match against the Eagles came down to the doubles point, with Wofford winning two of the three doubles matches and earning three points from singles wins by Haley Baird, Sarah Evans and Julia Paulson. The victory gives Coach Hangstefer's team a 7-3 overall record and a 1-0 standing in the Southern Conference. The loss drops Georgia Southern to 3-3 and 0-1 in the SoCon.
Evans and Paulson finished first in doubles play, grabbing their sixth doubles win of the season after defeating Alessandra Dzuba and Taylor Jones 8-1. Emilia Milovanovic and Samantha Sullivan fell short at the No. 3 spot, losing to Ashley Hungerford and Melanie Rolle 8-4.
After splitting the first two doubles matches against the Eagles, the point was left in the hands of No.1 doubles pair Garcia and Baird. The duo held a slight lead over the Georgia Southern pair entering the sixth game, and finished strong after beating Ali Beavers and Paola Garrido 8-6. Garcia and Baird tallied their sixth doubles win of the season with the victory and gave the Terriers a 1-0 advantage.
The Eagles took back the momentum after winning the first two matches in singles play. Beavers and Garrido knocked off our top two top starters, defeating Milovanovic and Garcia. Milovanovic lost 6-3, 6-4 to Garrido at the No. 1 spot and Garcia was beat by Beavers, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 at the No. 2 slot.
Paulson finished her match in straight sets against Allison Beeler. The first set was taken to a tie-breaker, but Paulson came on top and then dominated the second set, winning 7-6 (6), 6-0. GSU's Dzuba grabbed the win over Cox at the No. 6 position, 6-4, 6-5, giving the Eagles a one point lead at 3-2 and setting the Eagles up for the win.
The Terriers had to win the final two matches to be able to pull out the team win, and Baird and Evans came up big for the women's tennis program in the end. Baird took her match to three sets against Rolle after winning the first set and losing the second. The senior took control of the third set, winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-0, and tying up the team score 3-3.
Evans finished last, pushing her match against Hungerford to three sets as well. Evans lost the first match 5-7, and then only allowed Hungerford three total games in the next two sets, finishing 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. Evan's win gave the Terriers the fourth point and the overall win over the Eagles.
The Terriers return to the courts tomorrow afternoon, February 27th, against Coastal Carolina. The match is at home and set to start at 12:00 p.m.
Samford 4, Elon 3
ELON, N.C. - An electric crowd that cheered the Elon women's tennis team to comebacks in two doubles matches to win the doubles point was not enough to help the Phoenix overcome the No. 74 Samford Bulldogs. The Phoenix lost 4-3 in a hard-fought battle in its Southern Conference opener at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center today, Feb. 26. Elon falls to 4-5 on the season, while Samford remains undefeated and atop the SoCon with a 6-0 record.
Doubles play began with Samford's Taylor Morgan and Lindsey Mallory defeating freshmen Jordan Johnston and Viviana Stavreva, 8-0, at number one. Sophomore Briana Berne and freshman Andrea Pont Grau went game-for-game with Madelie Janse van Rensburg and Kristin Lewis at number three, but the advantage consistently remained with the pair from Samford. The Elon duo continued to fight and finally took the lead for the first time with the match at 7-6. Berne and Pont Grau went on to win 8-6 and leave the doubles point up to the number two spot.
Freshmen Frida Jansaker and Bryn Khoury played the most thrilling match of the day against Andrie Mering and Rebecca Kirven at number two. After the match started off 2-2, the Bulldogs took the lead 6-3 and kept a two-game advantage moving the score to 7-5. With the help of the great Elon crowd, the Phoenix pair went on a three-game rally to even the match at 7-7 and take their first lead at 8-7. Samford would tie the match at 8-8 but the late surge from the Phoenix was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome. Jansaker and Khoury came out victorious, 9-8 (2), and gave Elon the doubles win and the 1-0 lead.
In singles play, Samford came out strong taking the lead, 2-1, after Mallory defeated Pont Grau, 6-0, 6-0, at number six and Mering earned a 7-5, 6-2, win over Jansaker at number two.
Stavreva found herself down 4-3 against Lewis in the first set at number four, but was able to grab the lead at 6-5 and eventually win the set 7-5. After a 4-1 start for Stavreva in the second set, Lewis made things close bringing the set to 4-3. But Stavreva was able to win two of the next four games and take the set win, 6-4, and tie match up for the Phoenix at two-all.
Over on court three, Khoury kept things close with Janse van Rensburg but eventually suffered only her second loss of the season, 6-3, 6-4. Berne played a close first set against Kirven at number five and sent the set into a tiebreak. Kirven would eventually come out victorious in the match, 7-6 (4), 6-3, and clinch the win for the Bulldogs.
After losing her first set 6-3, Johnston came back to take the next two and extend her winning streak to seven with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win at number one.
UNCG 7, Chattanooga 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team dropped a 7-0 match at UNC Greensboro to open Southern Conference action today. The Lady Mocs grabbed a doubles win, but could not get on the board against the Spartans.
Chattanooga falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in league play. UNCG improves to 3-1 and 1-0 in the SoCon. Sophomore Emily Hangstefer and freshman Alexa Flynn won their No. 1 doubles match over Stephanie MacFarlane and Alex Whitehead 8-6. It was the Lady Mocs pair's second straight win as they improve to 5-6 overall and 3-3 in the spring.
UTC did have two epic battles in singles play. Sophomore Jenna Nurik took Nitooli Wilkins to three sets at No. 1. They played a pro set in the third to decide the match with Wilkins winning 14-12. Junior Shaina Singh also had a three-setter. She lost to Dilara Yurtkuran 0-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) in her match at No. 4.