UNCG 5, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University women's tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss in Southern Conference play Saturday as the Bulldogs were defeated by the UNCG Spartans in an early-conference matchup held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the loss, Samford (9-3, 1-2 SoCon) dropped to 9-2 when playing at home this season. The Bulldogs opened the 2012 campaign with eight-straight victories at the Samford Tennis Center before falling to College of Charleston and UNCG (6-4, 1-0 SoCon) in two of their three most recent outings.
The Spartans moved to 2-1 in their last three matches and opened SoCon play with a road victory. UNCG won the doubles point Saturday and then tallied singles victories on courts Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6.
Samford's singles wins were tallied by senior Madelie Janse Van Rensburg and true freshman Stephanie N'tcha. Janse Van Rensburg earned her second-straight victory by defeating the Spartans' Dilara Yurtkuran, 6-3, 6-0, on court No. 2, while N'tcha knocked off Alex Whitehead in the No. 3 singles contest, 6-4, 6-4.
With their respective wins, the Bulldogs' Janse Van Rensburg improved to 10-2 this season and N'tcha moved to 8-4 in dual-match play.
College of Charleston 4, Charleston Southern 3
College of Charleston 7, Wofford 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The No. 74-ranked College of Charleston women's tennis team held on to its claim to the city championship title with a 4-3 non-conference win over Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon at the CofC Tennis Center at Patriots Point. CofC then topped Wofford, 7-0, later in the day.
The Cougars won their sixth-straight match and remain undefeated in the all-time series with the Buccaneers (7-2). They won the doubles point courtesy of an 8-2 victory by freshman Jenny Falcone and sophomore Kelly Kambourelis at the No. 2 line followed by an 8-5 tally by the sister duo of senior Caroline Newman and junior Christin Newman at No. 3.
In singles play, CofC used a 1-2-3 punch at the top of its lineup to clinch the match behind straight-set victories from Christin Newman over CSU's top player Olga Makhova, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 1, Kambourelis versus Angelica Sidorenko, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 2 and Caroline Newman against Yvonne Hubler, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 3.
The Cougars then downed Wofford, 7-0, to pick up their seven consecutive victory of the season in the second half of a doubleheader held on Saturday afternoon.
They had quite a turnaround as their morning match against Charleston Southern lasted close to five hours and overlapped into the afternoon portion of the schedule. It didn't seem to wear the team down as they quickly secured the doubles point by sweeping all three matches.
In singles, freshman Jenny Falcone defeated Wofford's Emily Przystawski in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 5 line to extend the CofC lead to 2-0 in the match. Junior Irene Viana won two love sets against Lucy Schermerhorn at No. 6, while freshman Samantha Maddox clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Othilia Lindqvist at No. 4.
Furman 7, East Carolina 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Furman women's tennis team blanked East Carolina, 7-0, Saturday at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C. The Paladins swept all six singles matches and the three doubles matches for the victory.
Furman jumped out to a quick lead, sweeping the doubles matches to clinch the point. Junior Lauren Kline and freshman Alex Moreno-Kaste topped Danielle Terpko and Yilian Zhang, 8-1, at number one, and sophomore Margaret Boyette and freshman Kelly Sullivan notched a 9-7 victory over Neena Wanko and Dana Gray at number two. In the third doubles contest, junior Michele Stanford and sophomore Amanda Murray defeated Natalie Collins and Renata Bakieva, 8-5.
The Paladins remained strong in singles, claiming victories in all six matches. Kline defeated Collins, 6-2, 6-0, in the top-seeded match, and Stanford recorded a 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) win over Bakieva at number two. At number three singles, Boyette bested Wanko, 6-2, 7-5, while sophomore Katherine Oudin scored a 6-1, 6-1 win over Zhang in the fourth singles match. Moreno-Kaste defeated Terpko, 6-0, 6-3, at number five, then Murray clinched the sweep with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Gray in the sixth singles match-up.
Furman (5-7) opens the 2012 SoCon season Sunday at Georgia Southern. First serve is set for noon.