Furman 4, Chattanooga 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Junior Katherine Oudin came from behind to defeat Alexa Flynn, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, at flight three to lead No.68 Furman to a 4-3 victory over Chattanooga Sunday at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C. With the win, the Paladins remain unbeaten in Southern Conference play and extend their winning streak to five matches. The Paladin win marks the first league loss for the Mocs this season and leaves Furman alone at the top of the league standings.
In doubles play, the Mocs’ Kaylene Chadwell and Flynn teamed up to defeat junior Alex Moreno-Kaste and Oudin, 8-4, in the top match-up, then the Paladin freshman duo of Blair Martin and Ansley Speaks registered an 8-3 victory over Kayla Jones and Katie Polk at flight two to even the match. In the decisive number three contest, Chattanooga’s Kelsey Coots and Claire Mulyadi held on to beat senior Amanda Murray and freshman Karlee Bryde, 8-5, to claim the opening point for the Mocs.
Speaks evened the score with a 6-4, 6-2 advantage versus Jones at flight one singles, then Martin gave Furman a 2-1 lead with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Polk at number six. Coots knotted the score at 2-2 after beating Bryde, 7-6, 7-5, at flight four, before junior Kelly Sullivan put the Paladins back on top, 3-2, with a 7-5, 6-2 win against Mulyadi at number five. Chadwell held on to defeat Moreno-Kaste, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1, at number two to set up the decisive flight three match-up.
UNCG 5, Western Carolina 2
Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women’s tennis picked up wins from Stacia Kissell and Shannon Bettiol, but could not overcome UNCG in a 5-2 loss at the Catamount Athletic Complex on a blustery Sunday afternoon in a Southern Conference match.
The Spartans claimed the doubles point after Soumeya and Anane and Stephanie Falcon defeated Erin Maguire and Sara Ruiz Pajares, 8-0, at the No. 3 spot and Dilara Yurtkuran and Yasmin Franco took down Megan McLinden and Nielly, 8-2, at the No. 2 spot.
UNCG completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 win by Kayla Gammie and Devon Sutherland over Stacia Kissell and Shannon Bettiol in the No. 1 match.
Leading 5-0 in the first set, WCU’s Stacia Kissell improved her consecutive No. 1 singles match winning to 11 when UNCG’s Dilara Yurtkuran retired in the first set due to injury after trailing 5-0. Kissell moved to 13-1 on the season and has now won more singles matches than any Catamount player since 1998 from available records. The win evened the match at one point apiece.
Franco gave UNCG a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 6-0, 6-1 straight set win over Nielly at the No. 5 singles spot, and Jamie Grinberg extended the Spartan lead to 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Maguire at the No. 6 spot.
Bettiol pulled the Catamounts within a point, 3-2, when she picked up a win at the No. 2 position after Anane retired trailing 3-0 in the second set. Bettiol, who surpassed her singles win total from the 2013 season with her fifth win of the season, had already won the first set, 7-5.
However, UNCG closed out the match claiming the final points with a 6-2, 6-2 Gammie defeat of Ruiz Pajares at No. 4 and a 6-3, 7-5 Falcon win over McLinden at No. 3 to seal the 5-2 win.
Samford 7, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's tennis team fell to the Samford Bulldogs, 7-0, on Campus Kids' Day at the John E. Reeves Tennis Center Sunday afternoon.
The loss drops the Terriers to 5-11 overall and 1-5 in the Southern Conference and the Bulldogs improve to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
Samford clinched the doubles point on the second court to take a 1-0 lead. Emily Mallory and Yasmeen Ebada won 8-4 to clinch the point. The Bulldogs went on to sweep the point and take all three matches.
In singles play, Jessica Northcutt clinched the match for Samford on the fourth court as she defeated Catherine Martin, 6-3, 6-2. Samford went on to win the rest of the singles matches to take the 7-0 victory.
Sarah Evans played well as she pushed Stephanie N'tcha to a third set tiebreak. After dropping the first set 6-3, Evans took the second set 6-3 sending the match to a third set tiebreak. In the third set tiebreak, Evans battled with N'tcha, but fell 15-13.