Davidson 6, Radford 1
Davidson 7, Brevard 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson women’s tennis team got their first two wins of the season by sweeping a pair of home matches against Radford (6-1) and Brevard College (7-0) Saturday afternoon in the Knobloch Tennis Center.
Four different Wildcats went 4-0 on the day, winning both their singles and doubles matches against the Highlanders and the Tornadoes. The Wildcats remain perfect all-time vs. both schools, 9-0 and 2-0, respectively.
In the morning match vs. Radford, Davidson won the first two doubles spots to grab a 1-0 lead. It then took five of the six singles matches, with three of them by playing out a super tie-breaker in the third set.
Davidson then swept all six positions vs. Brevard after taking all three doubles matches in the afternoon match.
Brites Moniz-Soares, Elaina Cummer, Nisha Crouser and Jenna Brunner all went 4-0 on the day. Moniz-Soares had wins of 6-2, 7-5 and 6-1, 6-0 in singles and teamed with Cummer at No. 1 doubles for 6-0 and 6-2 wins.
Cummer took home singles wins of 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. Crouser followed with strong wins of 6-2, 6-4 and 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
The freshman Brunner won her first two collegiate singles matches, needing a super tie-breaker to win vs. Radford, 5-7, 6-3, 13-11. She also blanked her Brevard opponent, 6-0, 6-0, with both wins on the day coming at No. 5 singles. Brunner and Crouser formed a solid combo at the No. 2 doubles spot, netting 6-1 and 6-0 victories.
Fellow first-year player Sarah Stein also collected her first two career singles wins at No. 4. She went to a super tie-breaker vs. Radford, netting a 10-7 win after splitting her first two sets, 6-1, 5-7. Then in the afternoon, Stein rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 triumph vs. the Tornadoes.
Tamara Hill had a couple of wins vs. Brevard, picking up a 6-1, 6-1 singles decision at No. 6 and then teamed with Blake Nickles at No. 3 doubles for a 6-1 victory.
Samford 7, Kennesaw State 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Samford women’s tennis coach David Vest reached the impressive 200-win plateau for his career Saturday as the Bulldogs cruised to a 7-0 season-opening victory against the Kennesaw State Owls in a non-conference matchup held at the Samford Tennis Complex.
Vest, who is in the midst of his sixth season at Samford, improved his all-time coaching record to 200-135, as well as an 88-51 mark as a Bulldog.
Samford (1-0) swept Saturday’s doubles competition to take an early 1-0 lead and then received quick straight-set singles wins from Kristin Lewis, No. 72-ranked Stephanie N’tcha, Yasmeen Ebada, Jessica Northcutt and Lauren Caballero to tally the 7-0 victory.
Kennesaw State (0-1) was forced to compete with only five healthy players Saturday, therefore the Bulldogs won via walkover in the No. 6 singles match and on doubles court No. 3.
The closest match of the contest Saturday proved to be at court No. 1 where Samford’s Lewis held off a feisty Alexandra Apostu of Kennesaw State, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Kansas State 4, Elon 3
ATHENS, Ga. – The Elon University women’s tennis team couldn’t hold off Kansas State in the consolation match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament Saturday, Jan. 25, falling to the Wildcats 4-3 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
The Phoenix fell behind the Wildcats early on after dropping the doubles point with loses on court No. 2 and 3. The pairing of Taylor Casey and Maria Camara Ruiz fell first for Elon, dropping a 6-3 decision to Maria Panaite and Iva Bago on court No. 2.
The Wildcats finished off the point with Petra Niedermayerova and Palma Juhasz topping Jordan Johnston and Frida Jansaker by a score of 6-3.
Elon pulled the point back as the match shifted to the singles portion with Jansaker topping Panaite on court No. 2 to pull Elon back to a tie with the Wildcats, but Kansas State quickly responded and retook the lead thanks to Niedermayerova topping Johnston 6-4, 6-1 on court No. 1.
The Phoenix then picked up two straight wins to gain its first lead in any of the four matches thus far on the young season. Bryn Khoury dropped her first set on court No. 4 against Bago, but the senior bounced back to win the second set to force a tiebreaker. Khoury finished off Bago in the tiebreaker to pull Elon even again at 2-all.
Barbora Lazarova followed Khoury with a win on court No. 3 to put Elon ahead 3-2. The junior held off Juhasz with a 6-3, 6-3 win.
After Kansas State tied the match with a win on court No. 6, Casey needed to overcome her first set loss to keep Elon alive. The sophomore did so with a 7-5 win in the second set, but fell 10-8 in the third set tiebreaker against Amina St. Hill, which clinched the match for the Wildcats.
Wake Forest 9, Appalachian State 0
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Appalachian State University women's tennis suffered a 9-0 loss to Wake Forest in the 2014 season opener on Saturday.
The Mountaineers (0-1) and Demon Deacons (3-0) played eight singles flights and four doubles matches on the day - most college matches feature just six singles flights and three doubles matches.
Wake Forest set the tone early as it easily swept doubles play to earn the first point of the match. The Appalachian duo of Mackenzie LaSure/Olivia Isbey dropped an 8-2 decision at No. 1 doubles while the tandem of Brianna Armellino/Gabrielle Wreder fell by an 8-3 final at No. 2 and Clare Cox/Megan Mullen suffered an 8-1 loss at the No. 3 spot.
In singles action, Wake's Karen Forman picked up the first singles point as she defeated Sarah King (6-1, 6-1) at the No. 7 spot. Cox, the reigning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, was downed by a 6-2, 6-3 final at the No. 1 spot while Wreder suffered a 6-2, 7-5 loss at the No. 2 spot.
LaSure was defeated by a 6-3, 6-0 score at No. 3 singles and Armellino dropped a 6-1, 6-0 loss at the No. 4 spot. Jessica Thaggard suffered a 6-2, 6-1 loss at No. 5 while McKayla Zupan was downed 7-5, 6-0 at No. 6. Carson Shell rounded out Appalachian's lineup with a 6-4, 6-3 loss at No. 7.
The Mountaineers return to action tomorrow when they take on ETSU in Johnson City, Tenn. and open home play against UNC Asheville on Feb. 5 at Yonahlossee Racquet Club.