Chattanooga 4, Elon 3
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team held off visiting Elon for a 4-3 win today. The Lady Mocs evened their Southern Conference record at 2-2 while improving to 10-3 overall. Elon fell to 3-2 in league action and 12-5 overall.
Chattanooga built a 3-2 lead with junior Jenna Nurik and freshman Kaylene Chadwell still on the court. The Lady Mocs needed a win in one of those final matches to secure the win. Both contests were close, but Chadwell posted a hard-fought (7-5, 6-3) win over Frida Jansaker to secure the victory.
UTC got on the board first by winning the doubles point. Clark put two new doubles teams on the court and both won. Nurik and freshman Claire Mulyadi defeated Briana Berne and Maria Camara Ruiz 8-3 at No. 3 in their first action as a team.
Elon responded when Jansaker and Jordan Johnston downed Chadwell and sophomore Alexa Flynn 8-5 at No. 1. It was just the second loss at No. 1 for Flynn and Chadwell who fall to 6-2 in the top spot. Seniors Shaina Singh and Emily Hangstefer clinched the point with an 8-5 win over Barbora Lazarova and Viviana Stavreva at No. 2.
Elon quickly tied the match when Lazarova defeated Flynn (6-1, 6-1) at No. 2. Singh responded for UTC with a (6-3, 6-4) win at No. 6. Camara dropped Mulyadi (6-2, 6-2) at No. 5 before Hangstefer defeated Stavreva (6-3, 6-2) at No. 4.
Hangstefer ties her career-high for wins in a season with her 14-5 record. She also improves to 7-4 at No. 4 this spring. Singh moves to 15-8 overall while Chadwell improves to 13-9.
College of Charleston 4, Oklahoma 3
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Sophomore Kelly Kambourelis rallied the College of Charleston women's tennis team to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over No. 44-ranked Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon at the CofC Tennis Center.
Kambourelis outlasted OU's Marie-Pier Huet in a hard-fought three-set thriller on a back-hand passing shot down the line to clinch the match, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2, at No. 2 singles.
It marked the program's first win in two all-time meetings with Oklahoma and was also the highest-ranked home victory since the facility opened in 2004 at Patriots Point. The Cougars last beat a team hailing from the Big 12 Conference in a 5-2 upset of No. 27 Kansas State in 1996 in Columbia, S.C.
With the win, the Cougars (14-4) kept their undefeated home-court win streak alive at 10-0 and rolled to their 10th-consecutive victory of the season dating back to a 6-1 road win at Samford on March 8.
It didn't come easy. CofC dropped the doubles point early, but gained ground in singles after freshman Jenny Falcone got the Cougars on the scoreboard with a straight-set win over OU's Nicole Long, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 5 line.
Freshman Samantha Maddox equalized the match at two-all with a 6-2, 7-6 victory over Abbi Melrose at No. 4, while No. 113-ranked senior Katie Lee showed veteran leadership closing out her three-setter over Whitney Wofford, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 6 and setting the stage for the match finale.
"The team did a great job today," said CofC Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo, who missed most of the doubles while spending time at the hospital with his son during his recovery from a surgical procedure. "The difference in the match was that we fought our hearts out in the end and it was just a great come-from-behind victory to win two three-set matches like we did and for Sam (Maddox) to win her second set, 7-6, after being down 6-5.
"It's a true testament to what we have been trying to stress to them, 'when we get these opportunities against high-ranked teams, we need to come through.' We have been close before, but this is the first time we have come through in a while. I couldn't be more excited. This is something our team really deserves for all of the hard work they have been putting in this season."
The Sooners (7-8) became the second nationally-ranked squad to fall victim to CofC next to a 4-2 decision over No. 67 Winthrop in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Jan. 29.
"Oklahoma is a great team and is well coached," Anastopoulo said. "They really fought until the very end. We just had a little bit more in our tank to close out the match."