Samford 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University women's tennis team remained undefeated on the young 2012 season Saturday as the Bulldogs posted a 6-1 non-conference victory against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns at the Samford Tennis Center.
Samford (2-0) opened Saturday's contest with a pair of doubles wins to earn the all-important doubles point. The Bulldogs then received singles victories from Kristin Lewis, Madelie Janse Van Rensburg, Rebecca Kirven, Lindsey Mallory and Emily Mallory to register the 6-1 win.
The Mallory sisters both won in straight sets for the Bulldogs, while the remaining three Samford singles triumphs occurred in three frames. Lewis, on court No. 1, moved to 2-0 in singles play this season, as did fellow Bulldogs Janse Van Rensburg on court No. 2 and Emily Mallory in No. 6 singles action.
Louisiana-Lafayette (0-2) tallied its lone singles victory on court No. 3 as Milou Israel held on for a 6-4, 6-4, win against Samford true freshman Stephanie N'tcha.
In doubles play, the Bulldogs earned an early 1-0 lead in Saturday's match by tallying victories on courts No. 1 and No. 3. Samford's combination of Lewis and Lindsey Mallory recorded an 8-6 win on court No. 1, while Adri Lochner and N'tcha secured an 8-5 in the No. 3 doubles contest.
The Bulldogs' tandem of Lewis and Lindsey Mallory remained undefeated this season with a 2-0 record.
The Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Thursday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their season-opening five-game homestand against the Austin Peay Lady Govs. The battle of former Ohio Valley Conference rivals will be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
Wofford 7, North Carolina A&T 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Wofford women's tennis squad swept through doubles and singles play Saturday afternoon, taking a 7-0 victory over North Carolina A&T.
With the win, the Terriers improve to 1-1 overall, while the Aggies fall to 0-3 for the season.
The afternoon began with doubles play, where the duo of Sarah Evans and Guinn Garcia defeated Cayla Cross and Azeib Nigatu (8-1) at the No. 1 position, Julia Paulson and Samantha Sullivan defeated Kimberly Stalling and Nianna Henry (8-1) at the No. 2 position, and Othilia Lindqvist and Emily Przystawski defeated Kenya Colbert and April Burrage (8-1) at the No. 3 position to sweep through doubles play to take the early 1-0 advantage.
Wofford didn't let up during singles play, as the Terriers took all six matches in straight sets to take the 7-0 overall win. At the No. 1 spot, Evans defeated Cross (6-2, 6-1), and Paulson swept Nigatu (6-1, 6-2) at the No. 2 position. At the No. 3 position, Audrey Coventry downed Colbert (6-0, 6-1) and Garcia defeated Stalling (6-1, 6-3) at the No. 4 spot. Lindqvist picked up a win at the No. 5 spot over Burrage (6-3, 6-0) and Przystawski defeated Victorea Austin (6-1, 6-2) at the No. 6 position to wrap up the sweep.
The Terriers return to the courts on Thursday, February 9th, hosting USC Upstate. The match is slated for a start time of 2:00 pm at the Reeves Tennis Center.
Chattanooga 7, Lipscomb 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team started off the 2012 spring season in excellent fashion with a 7-0 sweep of visiting Lipscomb today. The Lady Mocs swept the doubles point and dominated singles play by winning five matches in straight sets.
The Bison forfeited No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles, putting themselves in a hole before the first serve. Chattanooga did not let them get much confidence, posting an 8-3 win with senior Emily Hangstefer and sophomore Alexa Flynn at No. 1. Junior Jenna Nurik and freshman Kaylene Chadwell closed out the doubles with an 8-6 victory at No. 2.
"I am very pleased to get a win in our first match of the season," stated head coach Jeff Clark. "We worked through some nerves in the doubles, but played solidly and came away with the point."
Due to the singles forfeit at No. 6, UTC was up 2-0 after doubles play and needed just two wins to take the match. Nurik made quick work of Alyssa Bellini at No. 1, shutting out Lipscomb's top player (6-0, 6-0). Senior Charlotte Bossy clinched the win with her (6-0, 6-1) win over Danielle Hansen at No. 5.
"In singles, we really got off to a fast start," added Clark. "We won all of the first sets pretty handily and were able to keep the momentum going." Chadwell, Hangstefer and senior Shaina Singh all won in straight sets at 2-4, respectively.
"I am glad to get the first match out of the way," continued Clark, who got career win No. 80 tonight. "I am ready for the next one against Belmont."
The Lady Mocs will hit the road for four matches in the next three weeks, beginning Feb. 4 at Belmont. UTC is back home on Feb. 25 against Kennesaw State at the UTC Tennis Courts.
Virginia Tech 6, Elon 1
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Elon women's tennis team dropped just its second match of the year, falling 6-1 at No. 60 Virginia Tech inside the Burrows-Burleson Tennix Center. The Phoenix is now 4-2 on the season, while the Hokies improve to a 1-0 record.
At number two doubles, Bryn Khoury and Viviana Stavreva fell to Shannan Betts and Carol Kahoun, 8-5. The top Phoenix duo of Jordan Johnston and Frida Jansaker picked up an 8-6 win over Courtney Rauscher and Martha Blakely on court one to remain a perfect 4-0 on the season. Briana Berne and Maria Camara played Isel Martinez-Marcos and Emily Lauten in a tight match at number three but were defeated, 9-7, as the Hokies picked up the doubles point.
In singles action, Blakely claimed a victory for VT at number one with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Johnston.
Lauten picked up a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Stavreva at number five, while Kahoun defeated Jansaker, 6-4, 6-4, on court four.
Camara played a close match number six against Katie Blow but eventually fell in two sets, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
After dropping the first set, 5-7, at number three, Barbora Lazarova won the second set against Betts, 7-6 (7). However, Betts claimed the match with a 10-6 third set win.
Khoury picked up a big win for Elon at number two with a 5-7, 7-6 (7), 10-6 victory over Martinez-Marcos at number two.
Elon will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 11, for its home opener against Gardner-Webb at 2 p.m.
Charleston Southern 6, Georgia Southern 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis team was unable to start their season in the win column as they fell to Charleston Southern 1-6 on Saturday. However, Paola Garrido did notch two wins on the day.
The Eagles began the match in doubles play, where they dropped the point despite a victory from the sophomore duo of Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen. They gutted out a victory at #2 doubles by defeating their opponents 8-7 (6) in a tiebreaker for the match. However, the other two doubles teams were unable to secure wins.
"We got off to a slow start in singles and doubles and in a lot of cases we never recovered," said Head Coach Amy Bonner. "Tomorrow we will have to be ready from the start. The momentum from the doubles point is so important and the team will be ready to redeem themselves tomorrow."
Garrido also led the Eagles in singles play, recovering from dropping the first set to defeat two-time Big South Conference Player of the Year Olga Makhova. She pulled through at #1 singles in a ten-point match tiebreaker 1-6, 6-4, 10-6. The other Eagles fought hard but couldn't add to Garrido's victory. Junior Alexandra Langmo almost forced a third set match tiebreaker but fell 6-2, 7-5 at #6 singles.
However, the young squad did benefit from gaining the experience of the season's first match. "It's good to have a match under our belts so we can play with more confidence tomorrow against Coastal," added Bonner.
The Eagles return to the courts on Sunday when they visit the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at noon. Their first home match of the year is on February 18th at 10 a.m. when they host the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State.
UNC Asheville 4, Davidson 3
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Playing its third straight road match to open the 2012 Spring season, the Davidson women's tennis team fell just short at UNC Asheville, 4-3, as the doubles point proved to be the difference on Saturday afternoon.
The 'Cats (0-3) took three of the singles matches, but were defeated at the No. 1 and 3 doubles spots that gave the Bulldogs (1-0) a 1-0 lead to start the match and they would never give it back. It was the first defeat for Davidson in the all-time series.
Katharine Dicconson and Brites Moniz-Soares scored their first win as a doubles team at No. 2, taking an 8-3 decision.
In singles play, Moniz-Soares earned a straight set 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 2 for her first win of the 2012 campaign. Also winning for the first time this year was Nisha Crouser and Catherine Wood, who each picked up 7-5, 6-3 wins at positions No. 3 and 6, respectively.
Davidson will host Gardner-Webb and North Carolina A&T as part of a doubleheader for its home opener, Feb. 4. Match times are set for 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.