College of Charleston 5, UNCG 2
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Keely Mulligan was one of three seniors to lead the College of Charleston women's tennis team further toward its quest for a second consecutive Southern Conference regular-season championship title with a crucial 5-2 victory over UNC Greensboro on Sunday afternoon at the College of Charleston Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (16-7, 8-0) are currently on a season-best nine-match winning streak and handed the Spartans (12-5, 7-1) their first league loss of the year. They now have sole possession of first place in the latest team standings after defeating third-place Furman on Saturday.
After dropping the doubles point early, CofC countered by winning five of six first sets in singles. Junior Caroline Newman led the charge by leveling the dual match at one-all with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over UNCG's Stephanie MacFarlane at the No. 3 line. She is one of two Cougars to have won all nine of her singles matches in the team's current winning stretch.
Freshman Kelly Kambourelis gave CofC the 2-1 advantage allowing only three games over two sets against Lucy Dougherty, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 5, followed by senior Emma Hayman with a hard-fought 6-1, 6-4 decision over Alex Whitehead at No. 2.
Mulligan clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Mikayla Rogers for the fourth decisive point, while senior Kinsey Casey made it 3-0 on Senior Day outlasting Dilara Yurtkuran in a third-set super tiebreaker, 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (4), at No. 4.
Georgia Southern 6, Western Carolina 1
Cullowhee, N.C. - The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis team (9-10, 3-7 SoCon) swept through doubles play and won five of the six matches in singles play for a 6-1 victory over Western Carolina (2-12, 1-7 SoCon) Sunday, April 10th.
Georgia Southern breezed through doubles to gain a one-point advantage heading into singles action. At No. 3, Melanie Rolle and Natalie Maffett won by default while Ali Beavers and Ashley Hungerford blanked the Catamounts No. 2 doubles pair 8-0 to clinch the point. The number-one seed of Paola Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen downed Ainhoa Iglesias Diaz and Karen Jiménez 8-1 for the sweep.
The momentum stayed with the Eagles as the team won the first three matches to clinch the victory. At No. 5, Hungerford won in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 to secure the match for the Eagles fourth point. Alessandra Dzuba and Beavers won their matches at the No. 6 and No. 2 seed, respectively, by default.
Garrido cruised to a win at the top of the lineup, downing Izabella Glinska 6-0, 6-2 on court one. Playing at number-three singles, Rolle took the first set, 6-1, before falling in the second set, 7-5. The senior battled back in the tiebreak set to win 10-2.
Samford 6, Appalachian State 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University women's tennis team closed out its 2011 home schedule with a decisive victory Sunday as the Bulldogs registered a 6-1 Southern Conference triumph against the Appalachian State Mountaineers in a critical league showdown held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the victory, Samford (16-4, 6-3 SoCon) extended its winning streak to three-consecutive matches and concluded its home slate with a stellar 11-1 record at the Samford Tennis Center. The Bulldogs' lone loss in Birmingham this season was a hard-fought 4-3 setback against Furman on March 26.
Samford concluded its 2011 home schedule with consecutive victories against Wofford 7-0, Columbus State 7-0, Abilene Christian 4-1, Davidson 7-0 and Appalachian State (10-9, 3-6 SoCon) 6-1.
With the Mountaineers' loss Sunday, they had their season-long three-match winning streak snapped. Prior to its loss against Samford, Appalachian State was coming off consecutive triumphs versus North Carolina Central 7-0, Western Carolina 5-2 and Wofford 6-1.
The Bulldogs lost the doubles point to the Mountaineers, but cruised to straight-set victories on all six singles courts to notch a 6-1 team victory. In the singles play, Samford received wins from Taylor Morgan, Andrie Meiring, Madelie Janse Van Rensburg, Kristin Lewis, Rebecca Kirven and Lindsey Mallory.
The Bulldogs dominated the singles competition as the closest match Sunday was Lindsey Mallory's 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Appalachian State's Kim-Lea Dinh on court No. 6. With her victory, Mallory extended her winning streak to three straight matches and improved to 14-2 in singles play this season.
Samford's Morgan registered her seventh-consecutive triumph Sunday and moved her singles record to 14-5 in 2011. The Bulldogs' reigning SoCon Player of the Week has been victorious in eight of her previous 10 outings at the talent-laden No. 1 singles position.
Junior Janse Van Rensburg and senior Meiring both improved their team-best singles records to 17-3 on Sunday.
Chattanooga 4, Davidson 3
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Hunting for thier first Southern Conference win of the season, the Davidson women's tennis team nearly came away with it, but fell in the end, 4-3, to host Chattanooga on Sunday afternoon.
Davidson saw its record fall to 4-17 overall and 0-7 in SoCon play, while the Mocs improved to 10-9 overall and 5-3 in league action.
The team of Alison Rauh and Stephani Synn at No. 2 doubles scored a 9-7 win, their first as a pair, but Davidson dropped 8-2 and 8-6 decisions at No. 1 and 3 positions giving the Mocs the early 1-0 lead.
That proved to be the difference as both teams split the six singles matches, each winning three apiece. Synn carried her doubles winning ways into her first singles match since Feb. 20 with a 7-5, 0-6, 1-0 (10-8) win at No. 2. The junior had been out with an injury as she netted her third singles win of the season when she picked up the super tie-breaker win in the final set, 10-8.
Brites Moniz-Soares did the same, picking up a super tie-breaker win by the same score over Emily Hangstefer at No. 3. The freshman erased an early one-set deficit with a 6-2 win in the second set and then captured the super tie-breaker, 10-8.
Moniz-Soares paces the team with seven singles wins and earned her first career SoCon win with the victory today.
Giving the Wildcats their final point of the day was Romina Clemente, who also earned a super tie-breaker win in the final set. She had split her first two sets with Diana Zora at No. 6 singles, 7-6, 2-6, and since the overall match had been decided a super tie-breaker was played. In the tie-breaker, Clemente picked up her fourth singles win of the season with a 10-8 win.