Davidson 5, Wofford 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women’s tennis team dropped its first Southern Conference match of the season losing to the Davidson Wildcats, 5-2, at the John E. Reeves Tennis Center Sunday afternoon.
The loss moves the Terriers to 5-5 overall and 1-1 in the Southern Conference and Davidson improves to 6-9 overall and 1-0 in the Southern Conference with the win.
The Wildcats took the doubles point and an early 1-0 advantage. No. 2 duo of sophomore Mareli Sanchez and freshman Catherine Martin gave the Terriers a lead in doubles defeating Nisha Crouser and Jenna Brunner, 8-5, but Wofford dropped the other two matches as Davidson grabbed the point.
In singles play, junior Audrey Coventry defeated Laina Cummer, 7-5, 6-3, to tie the match at 1-1. Davidson pulled ahead again 2-1 winning the top court.
Senior Julia Paulson brought the match level again at 2-2 when she defeated Crouser, 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 3 position.
Tamara Hill earned a tough point against Sanchez in the No. 6 match as she won, 6-4, 7-5 giving Davidson a 3-2 lead.
In a hard fought match at the No. 5 match, freshman Kalli Karas battled with Brunner for three sets. Karas dropped the first set 6-0 but came back and won the second set 6-4. Brunner would clinch the match in the third set winning 6-2.
Samford 7, Georgia Southern 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University women’s tennis team cruised to a 7-0 home Southern Conference victory against the Georgia Southern Eagles on Sunday as the Bulldogs extended their winning streak to seven-consecutive matches and remained undefeated in league play this season.
Samford (9-1, 3-0 SoCon) continued its dominant play at home this year and tallied its ninth-consecutive victory held at the Samford Tennis Center. The Bulldogs’ boast an unblemished 7-0 record at home this season as their winning streak dates all the way back to March 23, 2013, when Samford lost to SoCon-rival Furman.
In Sunday’s 7-0 sweep of Georgia Southern (4-7, 0-4 SoCon), the Bulldogs breezed to the doubles point with consecutive victories of 8-1, 8-4 and 8-4. Samford’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Stephanie N’tcha and Kristin Lewis improved to 3-0 on the season with an 8-4 triumph over the Eagles’ combination of Kaitlin Kitchen and Mary Phillips Smith.
After taking the early 1-0 lead in the match by claiming the doubles point, Samford rolled its momentum over to the singles competition where they notched five quick straight-set victories.
On court No. 3, the Bulldogs’ reigning SoCon Player of the Week Yasmeen Ebada garnered a lopsided 6-1, 6-0 victory and remained undefeated in singles play this season, Ebada, Samford’s talented native of Cairo, Egypt, owns a perfect 9-0 record in dual-match competition this year.
Additionally for the Bulldogs Sunday, N’tcha improved to 8-1, Jessica Northcutt improved to 8-2, Emily Mallory improved to 6-1, Lauren Caballero improved to 6-2 and Lewis outlasted Georgia Southern’s Jordana Klein, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 1-0 (8) on court No. 2 to earn a 5-5 singles record this season.
Samford is off to one of its best starts in school history this year and has been dominating the competition in both singles and doubles play. Overall, the Bulldogs have accumulated a 46-11 record in singles, as well as a 23-5 mark in doubles.
College of Charleston 5, Appalachian State 2
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Appalachian State University women’s tennis fell to College of Charleston, 5-2, its first of four matches on Charleston, S.C. this week.
The Mountaineers (4-7) were swept in doubles play, but did salvage wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles as two players extended their individual winning streaks on the season. The Cougars (5-4) bounced back from a loss to ETSU that pushed them out of the national rankings.
Brianna Armellino grabbed a 6-3, 6-3 win at the No. 4 spot, extending her personal winning streak to five-straight - four wins at No. 4 and one win at No. 2. Jessica Thaggard won her second-straight match with a 7-5, 6-2 final at No. 5.
The rest of the match was dominated by CofC, however, as the Cougars won in straight sets in all other singles matches and grabbed 8-2 wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles and an 8-3 victory at the No. 3 spot.
The Mountaineers return to action tomorrow when they take on Richmond at 10 a.m. from the CofC Tennis Complex. Appalachian will also face No. 12 North Carolina and Southern Miss during its week in Charleston.