Samford 6, Western Carolina 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- The Samford University women’s tennis team cruised to a 6-1 Southern Conference victory against the Western Carolina Catamounts on Sunday as the Bulldogs completed its weekend road sweep and extended its winning streak to five-consecutive matches in a contest held at the Catamount Athletic Complex.
Samford (7-1, 2-0 SoCon) remained undefeated in nearly three weeks and moved to 1-1 when playing on the road this season. So far, the Bulldogs’ lone loss of the 2014 dual-match campaign occurred Feb. 9 at No. 21-ranked Auburn, 4-0.
Since then, Samford has rattled off consecutive victories against UTSA, 6-1, Jacksonville State, 7-0, UAB, 6-1, Appalachian State, 4-3, and Western Carolina (0-6-1, 0-1 SoCon), 6-1.
The Bulldogs breezed to an early 1-0 lead Sunday as they swept all three of the doubles matches. The final scores were 8-2 on court No. 1, 8-0 on court No. 2 and then by default in the No. 3 singles contest. Due to injuries this season, Western Carolina’s roster is only comprised of five players, therefore the Catamounts were forced to forfeit their matches in No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles.
Samford has dominated doubles play this season. Following Sunday’s contest, the Bulldogs own a sterling 19-3 mark in the competition.
In singles play, Samford quickly received straight-set wins on courts No. 6, No. 5, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 3 to extend its overall advantage in the match to 6-0. Western Carolina’s lone victory of the day occurred at court No. 1.
The Bulldogs’ Yasmeen Ebada defeated Megan McLinden, 6-1, 6-4, in the No. 3 singles contest to improve her unblemished record on the season to 7-0. Sophomore Jessica Northcutt was also victorious Sunday as she moved to 6-2 in dual-match play with a 6-3, 6-0 victory on court No. 4.
Overall this season, Samford owns a lopsided 35-10 record in singles.
UNCG 4, Georgia Southern 3
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women’s tennis team opened conference play with a 4-3 victory against Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Tennis Courts.
With the victory, UNCG improves to 3-4, 1-0 in the SoCon on the season while Georgia Southern falls to 4-5, 0-2 in the SoCon.
The Spartans won all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the contest. At No. 1 doubles, Devon Sutherland and Kayla Gammie defeated Paola Garrido and Giulia Riepe, 8-4. Senior Dilara Yurtkuran and Yasmin Franco downed Caitlin Kitchen and Mary Phillips Smith, 8-2 at No. 2 doubles. In the final doubles match, Stephanie Falcon and Soumeya Anane won 8-5 against Stephanie Woods and Jordana Klien at No. 3 doubles.
In singles, Gammie won in straight sets at No. 3 singles against Daria Vasekina, 6-0, 6-2 to give UNCG a 2-0 lead. Anane downed Klein, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 1 singles for the third point.
Franco clinched the match with a straight sets victory against Woods, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 4 singles. Phillips Smith defeated sophomore Amy Ellis, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) at No. 6 singles.
Garrido won in three sets against Falcon, 6-1, 6-7 (8-10), 1-0 (10-3), at No. 2 singles. Falcon won a tight second set tiebreaker 10-8 but fell in the super tiebreaker 10-3.
In the final match, sophomore Jamie Grinberg lost a close match against Riepe, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9) at No. 5 singles. Grinberg battled back and forth but fell just short 11-9 in the super tiebreaker making the score 4-3 UNCG.
Furman 4, UCF 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Furman extended its winning streak to three matches, clinching the doubles point and claiming three quick singles victories to defeat UCF, 4-3, Sunday at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.
Junior Alex Moreno-Kaste teamed with senior Katherine Oudin for an 8-3 win over Josephine Haraldson and Courtney Griffith at flight one doubles, then the freshman duo of Ansley Speaks and Blair Martin posted an 8-4 victory versus Courtney Cesarini and Sofia Baptista in the number two match-up to grab the opening point for the Paladins. The flight three match was unfinished.
In singles play, Speaks picked up a 6-3, 6-2 win over Griffith at flight two, then senior Amanda Murray defeated Clare Mendell, 6-3, 6-0 at flight six to give Furman a 3-0 advantage. Moreno-Kaste clinched the team win for Furman with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Haraldson in the top flighted match-up.
The Knights claimed the final three singles matches. Caroline Eberhart topped Oudin, 6-2, 6-2, at flight three, and flights four and five went to tiebreakers after the teams split sets. Baptista came from behind for a 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (9-11) win over freshman Karlee Bryde at number four, then Cesarini outlasted junior Kelly Sullivan, 6-1, 5-6, 1-0 (7-3).
“We did a good job coming out and taking the doubles point today,” said Furman head coach Debbie Southern at the completion of the match. “In singles we played disciplined tennis and pulled out three of the six matches to clinch the team win. Different players stepped up today, giving us a total team effort.”
Furman (6-3) hits the road for a six-match road swing next weekend. The Paladins will travel to California for a Spring Break Trip, where Furman will face Cal State Fullerton in San Diego on March 11 before playing at UC Irvine on March 12. Furman concludes the California trip with a March 14 match at San Diego.
Barry 5, Davidson 2
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. — Playing its second of four matches in Florida, Davidson fell for the second day in a row as it dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 3 Barry Sunday morning at the Buccaneer Tennis Center.
Barry came in ranked No. 3 in the nation in Division II and continued its perfect season by improving to 9-0. The Wildcats fell to 4-7 on the year.
The Buccaneers featured a pair of nationally-ranked singles players and two of their three doubles teams were ranked in the top-15.
Scoring the two team points was Brites Moniz-Soares at No. 1 singles and Jenna Brunner at No. 5. Moniz-Soares got back on the winning track after seeing her three-match win streak come to an end yesterday, pulling out a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 victory over Anaeva Pain.
Brunner pushed her win streak to three in a row with a 6-2, 6-4 victory to give her a team-best 7-4 record. The freshman is 6-3 at the No. 5 position.
It was the third ranked opponent the Wildcats have faced this year after seeing Virginia Tech (No. 54) to open the season and then facing South Carolina (No. 33) to start February.
The Wildcats take a day off before playing a doubleheader to close out its Florida trip, March 4, facing Detroit and Xaiver at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.