Troy 6, Georgia Southern 1
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis team was unable to complete their non-conference schedule in winning fashion on Thursday morning. The Eagles fell to Sun Belt foe Troy by a 6-1 score. The Trojans improve to 5-6 on the season with the win.
The Eagles (4-8, 1-2 SoCon) began the match by losing a heartbreaker in doubles action. With the doubles score even at 1-1, the point came down to the decisive match at No. 1 doubles. Unfortunately for the Eagles, their tandem of Paola Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen came up just short and fell for only the second time this season, both times in tiebreakers. Cameron Williams and Scottie French had rallied to tie the match by defeating Candela Munoz Giron and Samya El Hsissen at No. 2 doubles by an 8-5 score. Alessandra Dzuba and Mimi Bollaci fell to Olfa Dhaoui and Gabrielle Veiga at No. 3 doubles to open doubles play.
Troy's capturing of the doubles point carried over into singles action. Rosaura Ramirez-Vega defeated Alexandra Langmo at No. 6 singles, and Lyubov Dorofeeva did the same to Kitchen at No. 2 singles to give the Trojans a 3-0 lead. The Trojans clinched the match when El Hsissen downed Dzuba by a 6-2, 7-5 score at No. 5 singles. Karoline Grymel and Munoz Giron added wins over Garrido and Williams at No. 1 and No. 4 singles to give the Trojans their total of six points on the day. Allison Beeler did put the Eagles on the board with a 6-3, 5-3 (retired) victory at No. 3 singles over Dhaoui.
The Eagles will continue their three-game homestand when they return to conference play and host Appalachian State on Friday afternoon. First serve is set for noon at Hanner Tennis Complex.
Charlotte 7, Western Carolina 0
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Western Carolina's women's tennis team was swept by UNC Charlotte Thursday afternoon in Charlotte. The Catamounts failed to win a match, falling 7-0 to the 49ers. Charlotte continued its hot streak, improving to 11-1 while WCU fell to 1-9.
Charlotte quickly picked up the doubles point by downing all three WCU pairs. UNCC's Alexandra Zinn and Andrea Rivera defeated Ainhoa Iglesias Díaz and Megan McLinden in the No. 1 match, 8-2. The 49ers' No. 2 team defeated the duo of Karen Jiménez and Katie Barry, 8-3. Charlotte finalized the sweep blanking WCU's Sarah Walters and Taylor Casey.
The 49ers continued off the momentum from the doubles matches by winning every singles set but one. In the No. 3 singles match, Junior Karen Jiménez fell 6-2 in the first set. The rest of the match would be a battle between Jiménez and UNCC's Natsuko Takayanagi. Jiménez fought to win the second set, 7-6, to push the match to a third set. In the third, the match continued to be close with the set needing to be decided by a tiebreak set. Takyanagi took the tiebreak set 10-6, winning the third 7-5.
"We faced a very tough UNC Charlotte team who is playing very well right now," said Head Coach Chris Wollett. "We played well in doubles even though the score doesn't indicate it. We lost a heartbreak at No. 3 singles with Karen [Jiménez] falling in a third set tiebreak"
The Catamounts return to Southern Conference action on Sunday, traveling to Charleston to take on the Cougars of the College of Charleston.