UNCG 7, Appalachian State 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNCG won all three doubles matches before claiming all six singles matches as the Spartans stayed undefeated in the Southern Conference by defeating Appalachian State, 7-0, on Saturday afternoon at the UNCG Tennis Courts.
The Spartans (6-3, 3-0 SoCon) started with match with a clean sweep at all three doubles positions. The duo of Niltooli Wilkins and Lucy Dougherty got things started with an easy 8-1 victory at No. 2 singles. Stephanie Macfarlane and Alex Whitehead followed at No. 1 with an 8-2 win to clinch the doubles point for UNCG. Dilara Yurtkuran and Annette Rios made it a clean sweep with their 8-5 win at No. 3
Macfarlane started things off with a 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to give UNCG a 2-0 lead. Dougherty followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4 and Rios clinched the match for the Spartans with her 6-0, 7-6 (4) win at No. 5.
Mikayla Rogers made the score 5-0 in favor of UNCG with her 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles and Alex Whitehead earned a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 2. Niltooli Wilkins improved her spring record to 8-1 at No. 1 singles with her 7-5, 6-0 win over Linsell.
The Spartans will look to stay perfect in the SoCon as they host Western Carolina on Sunday at 1 p.m.
College of Charleston 6, East Carolina 1
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -The College of Charleston women's tennis team extended its winning to four consecutive matches with a 6-1 victory over East Carolina on Saturday afternoon at the College of Charleston Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (7-5) handed the Pirates (12-4) only their fourth loss of the season by sweeping the doubles point for the fourth-straight match. Senior Kinsey Casey and junior Katie Lee defeated Natalie Collins and Petra Vogel, 8-4, to clinch the point at the No. 2 line.
Like the day prior, in a 6-1 rout of No. 72 Wisconsin, CofC won five of the six singles matches in straight sets including sophomore Christin Newman, who topped ECU's No. 1 player, Jessica Cook, by a count of 6-3, 6-4. Other Cougar contributors were senior Emma Hayman at No. 2, junior Caroline Newman at No. 3, Kinsey Casey at No. 4 and Katie Lee, who sealed the victory with a 6-4, 6-3 straight-set decision over Yilian Zhang at No. 6.
CofC will battle No. 33-ranked South Carolina (9-4) out of the SEC for its third-straight contest in three days on Sunday, March 20, at 1 p.m. (ET).
Georgia Southern 6, Florida A&M 1
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis Team defeated Florida A&M 6-1 Saturday (March 19th) afternoon at Hanner Tennis Complex en route to its fourth-straight win. The four-and-a-half hour competition against the Rattlers pushed the Eagles to an 8-5 mark on the season and a 2-0 record this week.
The Eagles started strong with wins in all three doubles matches. Senior Melanie Rolle and sophomore Natalie Maffet bested Rattler duo Alexis Brown and Kathline Durden, 8-4, at the number-three seed. Freshmen Paola Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen grabbed their third-straight doubles victory as well as the deciding win over Florida A&M's Britney Dean and Deke Olagbegi, 8-5, at number-one doubles. Seniors Ali Beavers and Ashley Hungerford finished doubles play with a 9-8 (10-1) win at the number-two slot.
Hungerford, playing at the number-five spot, led the charge for Georgia Southern as she dropped FAMU's Maria Gomez in straight sets for the first singles point for the Eagles. Maffet followed in similar fashion at the number-four seed with straight set wins of 6-4, 6-1, over Olagbegi.
Number-six seed Alexandra Langmo won her second-straight match and clinched the team match win 6-2, 7-6 (4) over Shani Williams. Langmo came back from a 5-6 deficit in the second set and evened the score at 6-6 before taking the 7-6 victory.
Three-set wins at No. 3 and No. 2 singles added drama to the match as Rolle rolled to a 6-4 win in the first set over Durden before falling 4-6 in the second set. She rebounded in the third set 6-1 for the win at number-three singles. To complete the scoring for the Eagles, Beavers won in three sets at number-two singles for her 10th win of 2011. Florida A&M's Brown won the first set 6-3 before Beavers answered with two 6-2 set scores for the victory.
Georgia Southern continues its six-match homestand on Monday, March 21st, when it welcomes Elon for a 2 p.m. Southern Conference match at Hanner Tennis Complex.
Wofford 5, Washington & Lee 2
Emory 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford women's tennis team competed in their last non-conference matches of the season on Saturday, beating Washington & Lee and losing to Emory. The Washington & Lee match ended in a 5-2 victory for the Terriers and the Emory match concluded in a 4-3 loss.
After the Saturday's split decision, Wofford moves to a 10-6 record on the season. Washington & Lee drops to 10-2 and Emory improves to 9-2 on the year.
Coach Hangstefer had some fresh faces in starting roles throughout the two match-ups. Emilia Milovanovic moved up from her normal No.3 spot in doubles to partner up with Haley Baird at No. 1. Lucy Schermerhorn filled in for Milovanovic at her position in No. 3, playing along with Samantha Sullivan. In singles, Lucy Schermerhorn started at the No. 5 slot for both matches and Coach Hangstefer rotated Samantha Sullivan and Meagan Laframboise at the No. 6 spot for the two match-ups.
Washington & Lee
Coach Hangstefer's squad grabbed two doubles wins to open up the Washington & Lee match in Reeves Tennis Center. Baird and Milovanovic got things rolling with an 8-5 victory over W&L's Lauren Lukas and Trelsie Sadler. Schermerhorn and Sullivan secured the doubles point with an 8-6 win over W&L's Sallie Griffin and Chelsea Mixson.
In singles play, Wofford won all of the top four matches. Milovanovic shut out Ellen Yeatman 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 and Baird swept by Lukas 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 2 position. Freshmen Sarah Evans and Julia Paulson grabbed wins at the No. 3 and 4 positions. Evans defeated Jen Snyder 6-4, 6-0 and Paulson beat Sadler 6-4, 6-2.
With the doubles point and four singles win, Wofford ended the match with a 5-2 final score.
Emory
Emory started strong in doubles, sweeping the three doubles matches played against the Terriers. Wofford has only been swept two other times, with the last time being against South Carolina State (2/21).
After taking a loss at No. 5 singles, Paulson earned the Terriers' first point with a win over Malavik Padmanabhan at No. 4. Paulson only gave up three games, winning 6-2, 6-1. Meagan Laframboise was given the first starting nod of her career in singles and faced Emory's Brenna Kelly. Laframboise went on to beat Kelly in straight sets, 7-6 (6), 6-2. The final singles point came from Evans at the No. 3 position. Evans defeated Zahara Dawson 6-4, 6-1. All three of Wofford's points came from freshmen.
Despite a late surge by the Terriers, the doubles point proved to be the winner. The final score of the Emory match was 4-3.
Wofford currently has four players in double-digit wins in singles play. Paulson leads the team in singles wins with 12 and is closely followed by Evans and Milovanovic with 11 each. Senior captain, Baird, is third on the team with ten wins.
The Terriers will play their next match against Furman, Tuesday, March 22nd. The match will be held in Greenville, S.C. at Furman University and is set to begin at 3:00 p.m.
Samford 7, New Orleans 0
Tulane 4, Samford 3
NEW ORLEANS --- The Samford University women's tennis team finished its Saturday non-conference doubleheader with a 1-1 record as the Bulldogs cruised past the University of New Orleans Privateers 7-0 before coming up just short against the Tulane Green Wave 4-3.
With the doubleheader split, Samford (10-2) moved to 4-2 in road matches this season. Against UNO (3-5), the Bulldogs extended their winning streak to four-consecutive contests, but then dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision versus Tulane (8-8) at the Goldring Tennis Center.
Samford's loss at Tulane was only its second defeat of the 2011 season. Both the Bulldogs' setbacks this year were 4-3 losses on the road against top-notch opponents. Samford's first defeat of the year occurred at UNC Greensboro 4-3 on Feb. 27 in Greensboro, N.C.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs opened their New Orleans doubleheader with a 7-0 sweep of UNO. In the victory, Samford earned the early doubles point by winning on all three courts.
The Bulldogs then received straight-set victories from Taylor Morgan, Andrie Meiring, Madelie Janse Van Rensburg and Kristin Lewis to earn the 7-0 triumph. UNO was forced to play Saturday with a limited number of players and was then obligated to forfeit the singles matches on courts No. 5 and No. 6.
Against Tulane in the afternoon match, Samford dropped the point in doubles play and fell behind early by a score of 1-0. The Green Wave earned the point by securing identical 8-3 victories on courts No. 1 and No. 2. In the No. 3 doubles contest, the Bulldogs duo comprised of Janse Van Rensburg and Diamond defeated Tulane's pairing of Hila Elster and Elizabth Hamlin, 8-7(1).
With their win, Samford's combination of Diamond and Janse Van Rensburg improved its doubles record on the season to 5-1.
In the singles competition, the Bulldogs received victories from Lewis, Rebecca Kirven and Lindsey Mallory and courts No. 4, 5, and 6, respectively. Lewis tallied a three-set win on court No. 4, while Kirven breezed past Hamlin on court No. 5, 6-3, 6-2, and Lindsey Mallory outlasted Tulane's Emma Helisten, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, in the No. 6 singles contest.
Heading into the final singles match of the day, Samford and Tulane were deadlocked at 3-3. In the No. 3 singles contest, the Green Wave's Lindsay Dvorak held on for the deciding 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-1, victory against the Bulldogs' Janse Van Rensburg.
Samford's Lewis, a sophomore from Odenville, Ala., improved her team-best record on the season to 11-1 in singles play. The Bulldogs' No. 4 singles competitor has been victorious in six straight matches.
The Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs resume play in their Southern Conference schedule with a key home match against the Furman Lady Paladins. The contest will be held in Birmingham, Ala., at the Samford Tennis Center.
VCU 5, Furman 2
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The No. 30 VCU Rams defeated Furman, 5-2, in women's tennis action Saturday at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C. The Paladins notched singles wins from senior Monica Arguello and freshman Margaret Boyette. Arguello, ranked 86th nationally, defeated Josefin Hjertquist, 6-2, 6-2 in the top singles match, and Boyette recorded a 1-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6) win over Alex Bara in the number three match.
Kateryna Yergina beat Paladin sophomore Lauren Kline, 6-3, 6-1 at number two singles, and Daria Yakavleva defeated freshman Amanda Murray, 6-2, 6-0 in the fourth singles match. Isabella Fernandez posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over sophomore Michele Stanford at number five singles, while Manuela Pietzuch beat senior Jennifer Betts, 6-4, 6-4, in the sixth singles match.
The Rams swept the doubles matches to open play. Yergina and Bara teamed up for an 8-7(1) win over Boyette and Kline in the top doubles match, while Bara and Hjertquist defeated Murray and Stanford, 8-3, at number two doubles. Yakavleva and Pietzuch comined to defeat Arguello and Betts, 8-6, in the third doubles match-up.
Furman (4-8, 1-0 SoCon) will play host to Wofford Tuesday at 3 p.m.