Gardner-Webb 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's tennis team battled with the Runnin' Bulldogs all match, but couldn't pull it out as the Terriers fell to Gardner-Webb University, 4-3, Thursday afternoon in non-conference action at the John E. Reeves Tennis Center.
The loss moves the Terriers to 5-6 overall and Gardner-Webb improves to 8-6 overall with the win.
The Runnin' Bulldogs struck first winning the doubles point and taking a 1-0 advantage. Catherine White and Mary Walker Mixon won the No. 3 position, 8-3, and Jenny Lunde and Rokia Sacko clinched the point winning 8-6 at the No. 2 spot.
Sacko then gave Gardner-Webb a 2-0 lead as she defeated freshman Kalli Karas at the No. 5 singles position 6-2, 6-2. After Wofford cut Gardner-Webb's lead to 2-1 with a victory at the top court, the Runnin' Bulldogs answered with a victory by Lunde at the No. 2 position, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
Freshman Catherine Martin brought the Terriers within one again as she defeated Valeriia Popko at the No. 4 position, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0, to make the match score 3-2. Hutterli then clinched the match for Gardner-Webb as she defeated Julia Paulson, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, to make the score 4-2.
Sophomore Mareli Sanchez won the final point for the Terriers on the last court winning a tough battle against Catherine White, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-8).
Wofford begins a three-match road stand beginning with a trip on Friday, March 21, to Greensboro, North Carolina to take on the Spartans of UNCG at 1 p.m. The Terriers return home on Saturday, March 29, when they host Chattanooga at the John. E Reeves Tennis Center at noon.
FIU 6, UNCG 1
MIAMI, Fla. – The UNCG women’s tennis team fell to FIU, 6-1, to finish its spring break trip Thursday at the FIU Tennis Courts.
UNCG falls to 3-6 on the season and FIU improves to 5-3.
The Spartans fell behind 1-0 after losing the doubles point after Florida International won two of the three matches. At No. 3 doubles, Giulietta Boha and Aleks Trifunovic defeated Stephanie Falcon and Soumeya Anane, 8-3. The Panthers clinched the point with an 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles from Tina Mohorcic and Nina Nagode over Kayla Gammie and Jamie Grinberg.
In the final doubles match at No. 2 doubles, senior Dilara Yurtkuran and Yasmin Franco took down Carlotta Orlando and Valentina Briceno, 8-1.
In singles, Boha won in straight sets against Grinberg, 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5 singles. Orlando defeated Anane, 6-3, 5-0 at No. 1 singles to give FIU a 3-0 lead.
At No. 3 singles, Trifunovic won in straight sets against Gammie, 6-4, 6-2 to clinch the victory for the Panthers. Mohorcic outlasted Franco in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 10-4 at No. 4 singles.
Falcon earned the only point for UNCG with a three set win against Nadgode, 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 at No. 2 singles. In the final match, sophomore Amy Ellis lost in three sets to Briceno, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.
The Spartans will head home to host Longwood Sunday, Mar. 16 at noon at the UNCG Tennis Courts.
Mercer 4, Western Carolina 3
MACON, Ga. – Western Carolina gained their first doubles match win of the season, but fell to Mercer 4-3 in a closely contested match at the Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.
Mercer (6-9) earned the doubles point with a win at the No. 2 doubles match as Natalie Franklin and Haley Powell defeated WCU’s Megan McLinden and Sara Ruiz Pajares, 8-6. The Catamounts defaulted the No. 3 doubles contest.
Western Carolina (0-8-1) won the No. 2 doubles match as Stacia Kissell and Shannon Bettiol battled through a tiebreak to defeat Mercer’s Roxy Bartz and Lucie Payrat, 8-7 (7-3), in the No. 1 doubles contest. The match victory is the first doubles match won by the Catamounts this season.
The Catamounts collected singles points from their top three seeds, Kissell, Bettiol and Megan McLinden.
At the No. 1 singles match, Kissell won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 against Payrat. The win is Kissell’s eighth of the season, all of which have come from the number one position.
Mercer’s Liza Klyachkin defeated WCU’s Erin Maguire at the No. 5 position in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
WCU’s McLinden defeated the Bears Powell at the No. 3 spot, winning 6-4, 6-4. The victory brought Western Carolina back to within one point of Mercer in the overall match.
With the Catamounts trailing in the match 3-2, Bettiol battled back win at the No. 2 singles match, 5-7, 7-6(2), 3-0 against Mercer’s Bartz, who retired in the third set due to an injury.
Western Carolina’s Ruiz efforts fell short in the No. 4 singles match, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, against Mercer’s Franklin, which gave the Bears match victory, 4-3.
The Catamounts return to the courts on Friday March 14 as they play the Savannah State Tigers at 1 p.m. from Savannah, Georgia.