Appalachian State 7, North Carolina A&T 0
BOONE, N.C. - In the team's first match of the 2012 season, Appalachian State University women's tennis handily dismissed North Carolina A&T, 7-0, at Yonahlossee Racquet Club on Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers (1-0) duplicated the success they had against the Aggies (0-2) last season.
Appalachian's doubles pairs started the day with a 8-0 win at No. 1 doubles courtesy of Ellie Linsell and Jennifer Ansari.
The No. 2 pair of Blakeley Bean and Gisela Fernandez earned an 8-4 victory, while Gabriela Celi and Jessica Thaggard duplicated that score at No. 3 doubles to give the Black and Gold a 1-0 lead.
In singles, Linsell dropped a single game to win 6-1, 6-0 at the top spot, while Ansari allowed only two to take the second singles, 6-2, 6-0.
Thaggard posted a clean sweep of her No. 3 singles opponent, 6-0, 6-0, and the Mountaineers had clinched the match with a 4-0 lead after the first set of singles matches.
Gabby Gabriel made her collegiate debut with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles, while Celi took the No. 5 match 6-1, 6-1, and Kim-Lea Dinh rounded out the Apps' victories with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6.
The Mountaineers hit the road next weekend for a pair of neutral-site indoor matches in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The Apps face Liberty on Sat., Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. and James Madison on Sun., Jan. 29 at 10 a.m.
No. 58 Georgia State 4, Furman 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The 58th-ranked Georgia State women's tennis team swept the doubles matches and the top half of the singles match-ups to slip past Furman, 4-3, Saturday at the Mickel Tennis Center in the season opener for both teams.
The Panthers (1-0) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after winning all three doubles matches. Abigail Tere-Apisah and Maryna Kozachenko posted an 8-4 win over sophomore Katherine Oudin and freshman Alex Moreno-Kaste in the top doubles match-up, and Tereza Lerova and Whitney Byrd teamed up for an 8-6 victory over junior Lauren Kline and sophomore Margaret Boyette at number two doubles. In the third doubles match, Masa Grgan and Martina Ondrackova beat junior Michele Stanford and sophomore Amanda Murray, 9-7.
In singles action, Georgia State posted victories in the top three matches, before the Paladins rallied to pull out wins in the lower half of the line-up. Tere-Apisah defeated Kline, 6-4, 6-2 in the top match, while Lerova beat Oudin, 6-1, 6-1, at number two singles. Kozachenko notched a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Stanford in the third singles contest.
Furman's Boyette rallied for a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win over Byrd at number four singles, and Moreno-Kaste tallied a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Grgan in the fifth singles match. Senior Susan Bitetti defeated Chaimaa Roudami, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8, at number six singles.
Furman (0-1) will play host to #72 Florida International Sunday at 11 a.m.
No. 34 NC State 5, Davidson 0
No. 67 Winthrop 5, Davidson 0
RALEIGH, N.C. - The Davidson women's tennis team got their 2012 Spring season underway, but it was not the way they hoped to open play as they fell 5-0 in a pair of matches to No. 34 North Carolina State and No. 67 Winthrop on Saturday afternoon at the J.W. Isnerhour Tennis Facility.
Both matches were played in a 4-1 format, with four singles matches contested and one set of doubles.
In its first match of the season for Davidson (0-2) vs. No. 34 North Carolina State (1-0), the Wolfpack sweep all four singles spots singles matches in straight sets.
Sophomore Brite Moniz-Soares (Angra Do Heroismo, Portugal) gave No. 40 Joelle Kissell at No. 1 singles a run, scoring three games each, but fell 6-3, 6-3. Katharine Dicconson (Pacific Grove, Calif) played her first career match at No. 2 singles, but came up short 6-1, 6-1.
In the lone doubles match, Catherine Wood (Greensboro, N.C.) and Blake Nickles (Anderson, S.C.) fell 8-2. They also lost by the same score vs. Winthrop.
The second match was much the same as Winthrop (1-0) was able to take all four singles matches in straight sets. Frizzi Bschorer (Barnin, Germany) came close to forcing a third set, when she scored wins in four games in set two, but fell in the end, 6-0, 6-4.
Davidson has dropped its last four matches now against Winthrop, but still own a 16-7 all-time record vs. the Eagles. The Wildcats were playing the Wolfpack for the first time since 2008.
Davidson stays on the road for a 3 p.m. match at UNC Asheville, Jan. 28.