Chattanooga 6, Western Carolina 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team won its third straight match 6-1 over Western Carolina today. Rain forced the match to the indoor courts at the Hixson Racquet Club as the Lady Mocs improved to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the Southern Conference.
For the second time in a row, Chattanooga took the court against a team that could only field five players. As a result, UTC took the first doubles match at No. 3. They secured their second-straight doubles point when junior Shaina Singh and sophomore Jenna Nurik posted an 8-5 win at No. 2.
Junior Emily Hangstefer and freshman Alexa Flynn made it a doubles sweep with their 8-5 win at No. 1.
The Lady Mocs went up 2-0 with the walkover at No. 6 singles. Senior Annie Green won her second straight 6-0, 6-1 over Katie Barry. Green improved to 6-4, including 2-1 in spring action with her win today.
Hangstefer clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Ainhoa Iglesias Diaz at No. 3. Hangstefer has now won two straight after snapping a six-match slide.
Singh and Nurik also won at No. 4 and No. 1, respectively. Both reached double figures in wins as they are each 10-9 on the year. Both have won three in a row. Flynn dropped the lone point for Chattanooga, falling to Carolina Lainez 7-5, 6-2 at No. 2.
The Lady Mocs are off to their best start in over 10 years. The last time the Lady Mocs were above .500 this early in the year was 1999 when they began the year 8-4.
College of Charleston 7, Case Western 0
Memphis 4, College of Charleston 3
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's tennis team blanked Case Western Reserve, 7-0, on Saturday morning in the first of two dual matches held at the College of Charleston Tennis Center located at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (2-3) have now won two in a row and dominated throughout the singles and doubles lineup allowing only 11 combined games against the NCAA Division III Spartans (4-3).
Sophomore Irene Viana clinched the match with a two love-set victory over Kathleen Evers, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5 singles. She was preceded by straight-set wins by senior Emma Hayman over Case Western's Erika Lim, 6-0, 6-1, and freshman Kelly Kambourelis versus Bianca Patel, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 1 and No. 4 lines respectively.
CofC swept the doubles point for the first time this season with senior Kinsey Casey and Kambourelis defeating Erika Lim and Emily Pham, 8-3, at No. 1 doubles and the sister tandem of senior Caroline Newman and sophomore Christin Newman securing the point with an 8-0 rout of Case Western's Kathleen Evers and Kara Richardson at No. 2.
Three of the final singles matches went into three sets setting up a down-to-the-wire thriller as Memphis escaped the College of Charleston women's tennis team with a 4-3 decision in non-conference action held on Saturday at the College of Charleston Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (2-4) started off strong winning the doubles point for the second-straight match as the top combination of senior Emma Hayman (Wanganui, New Zealand) and sophomore Irene Viana (Paris, France) downed Memphis' Courtney Collins and Kelly Gray, 8-1, and the sister tandem of junior Caroline Newman (Greensboro, N.C.) and sophomore Christin Newman (Greensboro, N.C.) dispatched Andrea Arques-Garcia and Stefanie Mikesz, 8-4, at the No. 3 line.
CofC would increase its lead to 2-0 as Viana claimed a straight-set victory over Arques-Garcia, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6 singles. The Tigers (5-6) leveled the dual match as Mikesz got past Caroline Newman, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 3 and No. 114-ranked Courtney Collins defeated Christin Newman, 6-4, 6-0, at the top of the order.
Memphis continued its comeback winning out three setters at No. 2 and No. 4 singles as Kelly Gray held off senior Kinsey Casey (Alpharetta, Ga.), 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, for the deciding point at the fourth position. Freshman Kelly Kambourelis (Melbourne, Fla.) battled back from a love first set winning 13 of the next 21 games for the 0-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Kathleen Hawkins at the No. 5 line.
"We played inspired doubles against a very aggressive Memphis team," CofC Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo said. "We were fortunate to win two out of the three doubles matches for the point. We started out very strong in a few singles matches, but Memphis proved too tough in the end. I was proud of Kelly Kambourelis surviving a match point to come back to win in three sets. She showed a lot of fight, especially after missing the week of practice being ill. We all will learn a lot from this loss and know it will help us on our upcoming spring break trip to Florida."
The Cougars will continue play through the Spring Break holiday by traveling to south Florida to face Florida Atlantic on March 7 in Boca Raton, Fla., and Florida International on March 9 in Miami. First serve for both matches is slated for 2 p.m. (ET).