Samford 5, Southern Mississippi 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University women's tennis team picked up a 5-2 nonconference home victory against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Saturday as the Bulldogs improved to 5-1 when playing at home in the Samford Tennis Center.
With the win, Samford (5-3) snapped a two-match losing streak and moved to 1-1 against Conference USA opponents this season. Last week, the Bulldogs played host to UAB and dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision Wednesday. The defeat was Samford's only home loss of the 2013 campaign.
The Bulldogs swept the doubles point from Southern Miss (0-7) on Saturday and then picked up straight-set victories in singles play from Emily Lewis, Emily Mallory, AnnMarie Lyon and Adri Lochner.
Samford's Lewis tallied a 7-5, 6-0 triumph on court No. 1, while Mallory cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Mackenzie Oskin in the No. 4 singles matchup and Lyon rolled past the Golden Eagles' Macie Case, 6-0, 6-1, on court No. 5.
The Bulldogs' Lewis and Mallory both improved to 6-1 in singles play this season.
Samford's quickest singles victory of the day occurred on court No. 6 where Lochner blanked Southern Miss' Emily Nettles, 6-0, 6-0. With her dominant win, Lochner improved to 3-3 in singles play this year. In doubles play, Lochner teamed with true freshman Carita Moolman to defeat the Golden Eagles' duo comprised of Kate Lanier and Oskin to move to 5-2 this season.
The Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Starkville, Miss., for a nonconference showdown versus the Mississippi State Bulldogs to be held at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Davidson 7, Wingate 0
Davidson 5, Brevard 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Freshman Elaina Cummer picked up four wins, a pair each in singles and doubles, and Davidson finished out a three-match weekend with 7-0 and 5-1 wins against Wingate and Brevard College Saturday in women's tennis in the Knobloch Tennis Center.
Davidson moved to 6-2 overall on the year and 6-1 on their current nine-match homestand.
Cummer pushed her singles win streak to four in a row, earning 6-0, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-3 victories against Wingate (5-2) and Brevard College (0-2). The freshman ran her record to 6-2, going 3-1 at each the No. 1 and 2 singles spots.
The first-year player teamed up with Nisha Crouser at No. 1 doubles and helped the Wildcats take the doubles point in each match. The duo remained unbeaten as a team, netting 8-6 and 8-7 wins.
Crouser was one of three Wildcats to pick up three wins on the day. The junior opened the day with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph at No. 2 singles vs. Wingate to push her win streak to five. She added her other two wins with Cummer in doubles.
Catherine Wood and Tamara Hill each picked up a pair of singles wins. Wood scored a 6-3, 6-1 decision vs. Wingate, then earned a super tie-breaker win (10-5) at No. 2 vs. Brevard College. She teamed with Elise Held at No. 2 doubles for an easy 8-1 triumph vs. Wingate.
Hill remained 3-0 in singles action by allowing just two games in her two matches. She picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 6 vs. Wingate and blanked Nirvana Silva of the Tornadoes, 6-0, 6-0.
She and Blake Nickles picked up an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles vs. Brevard College to give the 'Cats the team point.
Frizzi Bschorer also remained perfect in singles play with a pair of wins. She opened the day with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph at No. 5 vs. Wingate and added a 6-1, 6-1 victory to close out the day at No. 3 in the Brevard College match.
Elise Held rounded out the day with a super tie-breaker victory vs. Wingate after splitting both sets, 6-3, 3-6.
Davidson takes some time off, before hosting its final two matches of a nine-match homestand. It plays East Carolina, March 14, and then opens Southern Conference play with an 11 a.m. match against Georgia Southern, March 16.
Chattanooga 7, Jacksonville State 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team continued to dominate its non-conference schedule with a 7-0 shutout of Jacksonville State today. The Lady Mocs improve to 8-0 on the year, the program's best start since the 1991 season.
UTC has posted shutouts in six of the eight wins this season. The Lady Mocs are 46-2 in singles action, only allowing two points in eight matches. Chattanooga also has an impressive 18-3 mark in doubles play.
UTC jumped out to a 1-0 lead by taking the doubles points. Freshmen Kayla Jones and Alison Storie made quick work of Kelly Tomlin and Aleksandra Cmilijic with an 8-2 win at No. 3.
Senior Jenna Nurik and sophomore Kaylene Chadwell followed that with an 8-4 win over Raisa Guasti and Raphaela Lima. They improved to 6-1 in doubles play on the year.
Junior Alexa Flynn and sophomore Claire Mulyadi fought off a late charge from Zoe Bizinos an Olivia Nguyen at No. 2. The UTC pair took the tiebreaker 7-4 to win 8-7.
Jones, Mulyadi and Nurik all improved to 8-0 in spring singles play with straight-set wins today. Jones leads the team with a 19-2 overall record while Nurik improves to 13-6 and Mulyadi to 13-4. Freshmen Katie Polk and Jovana Pecovski won at No. 5 and No. 6. Chadwell also took the No. 2 match.
The Lady Mocs are back on the court on Tuesday, Feb. 26, when they host Lee University. Match time is set for 2:30 p.m. (E.S.T.) on the UTC Tennis Courts. This is a rescheduled dual from a postponed match earlier in the season.
South Carolina 5, College of Charleston 0
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The No. 72-ranked College of Charleston women's tennis team had a tough match this afternoon as they were swept 5-0 by No. 38 South Carolina at the USC Field House.
The Gamecocks (6-3) posed a difficult challenge for CofC as they claim the No. 59 and No. 114-ranked singles players in the nation in Jaklin Alawi and Katerina Popova, respectively. Alawi topped senior Christin Newman in No. 1 singles and Popova defeated freshman Brooke McAmis in the No. 2 position.
Doubles was a similar story as USC also boasts the No. 57-ranked tandem of Jaklin Alawi and Dominika Kanakova. The two overcame the Cougar duo of freshman Katherine Schofield and senior Irene Viana in the No. 1 slot.
"As evidenced by the score, South Carolina was the better team today," CofC Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo said. "Coach Kevin Epley has his team moving in the right direction and I think they will do very well this year. We'll have to use this week of practice to try to get more of our players healthy as we prepare for a challenging spring break road trip against some quality teams."
CofC will next be in action a week from today when they face Stetson on Saturday, Mar. 2 at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center at noon (ET) in DeLand, Fla.
East Carolina 6, Western Carolina 1
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Western Carolina tennis lost to East Carolina Saturday afternoon at the ECU Indoor Tennis Facility by a score of 6-1, falling to 1-1 on the season. The match was moved indoors due to rain in Greenville.
The match began with ECU winning all three doubles. The Lady Pirates' No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams won by matching scores of 8-4 while the No. 3 team downed Erin Maguire and Sara Ruiz Pajares, 8-3.
In singles, Shannon Bettiol scored the lone point for the Catamounts in the No. 5 singles match. Bettiol defeated Karling Watson in three sets, winning 4-6, 7-6, 1-0.
Nicole Nielly fell in a close match at No. 4 singles, which also went to a tiebreak set. After falling 6-4 in the first, Nielly came back to win the second 7-5 before Danielle Terpko took the tiebreak.
The Catamounts look to get back to its winning ways quickly as the Purple and Gold travels to UNCG for its first Southern Conference match of the season on Sunday. The match is slated to begin at Noon on Sunday.
East Carolina 6, Appalachian State 1
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State women's tennis finished the afternoon with a disappointing 6-1 final against East Tennessee State University at Yonahlossee Racquet Club on Saturday. Despite a tough effort, the Mountaineers (6-2) were unable to overcome the Buccaneers (3-0), and recorded only their second loss of the season.
ETSU swept through doubles competition to earn the first point and an early 1-0 lead against the Mountaineers. Ellie Linsell and Mackenie LaSure fell to Lyn Yee Choo and Anna Gerbasi in No. 1 singles (8-6), along with Jennifer Ansari and Clare Cox, who were defeated at No. 2 flight by Buccaneer pair Antonia Kolovou and Larn McShane (8-6). ETSU rounded out doubles competition when Sofia Espana and Salma Dahbi defeated Gabriela Celi and Brianna Armellino in the No. 3 position (8-4).
The Mountaineers opened singles play on a positive note with Linsell's defeat of Giulia Andreazza (6-4, 6-4) in No. 1 flight to knot the match at 1-1, but ETSU quickly regained the lead with Kolovou's victory against Cox in No. 2 singles (6-2, 6-3) and moved from there. Ansari fell to Gerbasi (6-4, 6-2) at the No. 3 spot, while Armellino dropped her match to Choo in No. 4 flight (7-3, 6-3). Jessica Thaggard fell to ETSU's Salma Dahbi (6-3, 6-5) in the No. 5 position, while Gabriela Celi's loss to Sofia Espana in No. 6 singles (6-3, 6-3) would finalize the Buccaneer's 6-1 victory.
Looking ahead, the Mountaineers will travel to Clinton, South Carolina on Feb. 24, where they will face Presbyterian College. Appalachian will return home to host Chattanooga on March 1 at 2 p.m.