Samford 6, Davidson 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In its 2013 home finale, the Samford University women’s tennis team earned a dominant 6-1 win against the Davidson Wildcats in a key Southern Conference contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the win, Samford (8-10, 3-4 SoCon) tallied its second straight conference victory and improved to 8-3 when playing at home this season.
Davidson (7-7, 0-5 SoCon) remained winless in league play and suffered a 6-1 defeat versus the Bulldogs for a second season in a row. Last year, Samford registered an identical 6-1 victory over the Wildcats on the road in Davidson, N.C.
The Bulldogs won the doubles point Friday and then received singles triumphs from Kristin Lewis, Stephanie N’tcha, Jessica Northcutt, Emily Mallory and AnnMarie Lyon en route to the lopsided 6-1 team victory. The Wildcats’ lone win occurred in the No. 4 singles contest.
Four of Samford’s five singles victories came in straight sets. On court No. 1, the Bulldogs’ two-time All-SoCon performer Lewis recorded a 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 over Davidson’s Brites Moniz-Soares. With her win, Samford’s talented junior from Odenville improved to 10-7 in singles play this season.
Also victorious on Friday, the Bulldogs’ Mallory upped her record in dual-match play to 11-5, while Ntcha moved to 11-6 in singles play.
College of Charleston 7, UNCG 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The No. 75-ranked College of Charleston women’s tennis team bounced back from their March 27 loss to No. 68 Elon with a 7-0 sweep of Southern Conference co-leader and No. 70-ranked UNCG this afternoon at the College of Charleston Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
CofC now holds a 12-8 overall record with a 4-1 mark in conference. This was the Spartan’s first SoCon loss – their record now stands at 9-5, 5-1 in the SoCon.
The College started well in doubles when the senior duo of Irene Viana and Olivia McMillan knocked off Dilara Yurtkuran and Stephanie Falcon of UNCG on Court 3.
Senior Christin Newman and sophomore Samantha Maddox fended off a comeback attempt from Kayla Gammie and Annette Rios of the Spartans to win 8-6 on Court 2 to clinch the doubles point for the Cougars.
CofC carried the momentum from doubles into singles when freshman Brooke McAmis defeated Alex Whitehead of UNCG 6-0, 6-3 in the No. 3 position.
Junior Kelly Kambourelis followed suit with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Yurtkuran in the No. 2 slot.
Maddox kept it rolling when she topped Falcon of the Spartans 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 5 line.
Christin Newman’s and sophomore Jenny Falcone’s matches both went to tiebreaker third sets, and both players pulled off wins at No. 1 and No. 4, respectively.
McMillan wrapped things up with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Gammie on Court 6.
Coastal Carolina 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women’s tennis team’s comeback fell short as the Terriers were defeated by Coastal Carolina 4-3 Friday afternoon at the Reeves Tennis Center. Wofford drops to 5-11 this season while the Chanticleers improve to 9-7.
On the doubles side, Wofford jumped in front first with an 8-6 win by Julia Paulson and Lucy Schermerhorn over Mikaela Davies and Vanessa Ortiz in the No. 2 position. Coastal Carolina put the pressure on the No. 1 match-up after Libby Scott and Alicia Robinson defeated Guinn Garcia and Mareli Sanchez (8-5) in the No. 3 position. Terriers Sarah Evans and Othilia Lindqvist led early against Kortney Kowal and Shelby Bates but the Chanticleers eventually pulled away for an 8-5 win to secure the doubles point.
In singles action, Coastal Carolina quickly extended their lead to 3-0 after straight set wins by Scott over Evans (6-0, 6-1) and Kowal over Lindqvist (6-0, 6-0) in the No. 1 and No. 5 positions respectively. However, the Terriers would not give up and they fought to tie the score after three straight sets victories of their own. First Audrey Coventry topped Davies (6-2, 6-4) in the No. 2 spot. Next, Schermerhorn fought past Ortiz (6-3, 6-4) at No. 6. Then, Paulson outlasted Bates in a tight second set (6-2, 7-5) in the No. 3 position.
The overall result came down to the final match-up between Wofford’s Sanchez and Coastal Carolina’s Robinson. Sanchez took control early with a 6-2 first set win. Robinson would respond for the Chanticleers as she pulled even after her 7-5 win in set two. In the final set, Sanchez took a commanding 5-1 lead but could not close the match. Robinson won the next five games to take a 6-5 lead before Sanchez was able to force a tie-breaker to decide the match. In the tie-breaker, Sanchez again took an early lead, 4-1, but could not hold on as Robinson roared back to win 7-5 and take the set 7-6.
The Terriers will return to the court on Tuesday, April 2, when they travel to face the Davidson Wildcats. The match is set to begin at 3:00 p.m.