Appalachian State 6, Liberty 1
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. - Appalachian State women's tennis earned its second victory over a three day tournament; today's win against opponent Liberty University.
The Mountaineers (3-1) handed Liberty (0-1) a 6-1 defeat at Greenbrier resort on Sunday, leaving the tournament with back-to-back wins.
In doubles play, the Mountaineer pair of Ellie Linsell and McKenzie LaSure joined for a victory once again as they defeated the Lady Flames' Alexsandra Sheeran and Rebekah Jenkins (9-7) in the No. 1 position. App State doubles Jennifer Ansari and Clare Cox matched up against Jessie Boda and Brittany Yang at the No. 2 spot, while Gabriela Celi and Brianna Amerllino faced Cameron Richard and Valerie Thong in No. 3 doubles; both Mountaineer pairs earning 8-6 victories over Liberty.
Appalachian played well in singles action, as well, as Linsell served Sheeran a loss in No. 1 singles (6-4, 6-0) and Cox defeated Richard for the No. 2 spot (6-4, 6-4). Brittany Yang earned the lone point for Liberty when she defeated Ansari at the No. 3 position (6-3, 6-2). Appalachian remained focused on a win, however, with Jessica Thaggard taking the No. 4 spot for the Mountaineers against Valerie Thong (6-2, 6-2), and Celi defeating Annisha Domenech (6-2, 7-5) for a victory in the No. 6 position.
The Mountaineers will return home to host Radford on February 9 at 3 p.m, followed by North Carolina Central on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m.
College of Charleston 4, Wisconsin 2
DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 62-ranked College of Charleston women's tennis team improved to 2-1 on the season with a 4-2 victory over No. 74 Wisconsin in the consolation match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event held on Sunday afternoon at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center on the campus of host Duke University.
Senior Christin Newman clinched the dual match with a 7-5, 6-4 straight-set victory over Hannah Berner at No. 1 singles. The Cougars (2-1) previously beat the more indoor-experienced Badgers (0-2) in non-conference play outdoors, 6-1, in March of 2011.
"To defeat a team like Wisconsin, especially indoors, is a great win for our program on a national stage," CofC Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo said. "Without a doubt, they are a great indoor team, are much improved and will be a team that is going to do well in the Big Ten Conference this year. I'm really proud of the team and how they came back from a tough loss yesterday to Wyoming."
CofC claimed the doubles point early behind the combination of junior Kelly Kambourelis and sophomore Jenny Falcone winning an 8-1 pro-set over Wisconsin's Lauren Burich and Helen Rabot at the No. 2 line. Newman and freshman Katherine Schofield closed out the point with an 8-6 defeat of Katie Hoch and Anastasia Tripolskay at the No. 3 position.
"Katherine (Schofield) did not anticipate playing today, but stepped up, performed well and played with great enthusiasm and energy against Wisconsin," Anastopoulo said. "She and Christin did a good job of closing the doubles point at the end, after Samantha (Maddox) and Irene (Viana) came up short in their comeback from being down 5-1 at No. 1 doubles. Kelly (Kambourelis) and Jenny (Falcone) did a great job being up 3-1 in deuce points, after 0-4 in a sudden death situation yesterday against Wyoming in doubles."
Preceding Newman with singles victories aiding in the final team score were sophomore Samantha Maddox with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Lauren Burich at the No. 4 line, and the rookie Schofield, who collected her first collegiate win with a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Helen Rabot at No. 6.
The Cougars will welcome back former players for CofC Alumni Weekend on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the CofC Tennis Center at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
Davidson 4, UNC Asheville 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Elise Held sealed up Davidson's first win of 2013 when she scored the Wildcats' fourth point with her singles win at No. 6 and the 'Cats took a 4-3 decision at home over visiting UNC Asheville in a non-conference women's tennis match Sunday afternoon.
Held picked up her first win of the season when she rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 6 over Gillian Lewis.
Davidson (1-1) started the match off by sweeping the doubles point, taking a pair of 8-4 decisions at No. 1 and 2, and then sealing the point with an 8-1 win at No. 3. Brites Moniz-Soares and Elaina Cummer along with Nisha Crouser and Stephani Synn played at No. 1 and 2 spots for their first wins of the season.
Catherine Wood and Frizzi Bschorer rolled in their No. 3 doubles match for their first win as well.
UNC Asheville (1-1) took three of the six singles matches, but Davidson held on with wins at No. 1, 2 and 6. Moniz-Soares (7-5, 6-4) and Cummer (6-3, 6-3) secured their first wins of the campaign. For Cummer, it was the first of her collegiate career.
Wood and Synn both went the distance in their singles matches, taking their Bulldog opponents to a third set, but came out on the wrong end. Wood earned a win in the second set, 6-4, but lost 7-6, 6-3 in sets one and three. Synn started her match with a 6-4 victory, but dropped a pair of 6-4, 6-4 decisions in the next two sets.
Davidson continues its nine-match homestand with a 10 a.m. match against Gardner-Webb, Feb. 9.
Georgia Southern 6, Presbyterian 1
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis team (1-0) won all three doubles matches and five out of the six singles matches en route to beating Presbyterian College (0-2) 6-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Hanner Tennis Complex. All matches but one were determined in straight sets.
"I'm proud of the way our girls competed today," said Head Coach Amy Bonner. "It is great to start off our spring season with a win."
The Eagle started their season off right with a dominating performance in doubles. Freshman-senior duo Stephanie Woods and Natalie Maffett breezed through their match at the number two spot, beating Presbyterian's Haley Elliott and Patricia Alves 8-1. Juniors Paola Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen teamed up at the number one spot to beat Greer Randsom and Lindsay Krause 8-5. Last to finish were Jordana Klein and Alexis Prickett. The duo beat Kayla Stanford and Caroline DeLoach 8-6 at the number three.
The doubles momentum carried over into the singles matches as freshman Francisca Norregaard quickly saw herself serving for the match, beating her opponent Elliot 6-0, 6-2 at the number six position.
"I was very impressed with Francisca. She arrived two weeks ago from Denmark and came out today and played really well," said Bonner.
Woods continued her strong play and beat Krause 6-1, 6-2 at number four. Maffett followed her doubles partner and clinched the match for the Eagles with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win over Lucia Leahy at the number five spot, losing only two games total throughout the day.
"Natalie really stepped up today with leadership. She came out firing and played a great match," said Bonner.
Garrido won her first match of the year at number one, beating Greer 6-1, 6-2. After a back and forth battle in the second set, sophomore transfer Klein came out on top in her match on court number two, taking it home 6-0, 6-2.
Freshman Mary Phillips Smith rounded up the score after an extremely tight match at the number three. After winning her first set 6-4 and dropping the second one with the same numbers, both players needed a tiebreaker to determine the last set, 1-0 in favor of DeLoach, and the final score of the day.
All three Georgia Southern freshmen made their first collegiate start, with two out of three earning their first win in blue and gold.
The Eagles return to competition next weekend in Alabama with a 11 a.m. match at UAB on Saturday, Feb. 2 and a Sunday, Feb. 3 1 p.m. match-up with Auburn.