Western Carolina 4, Longwood 3
Burlington, N.C. – Erin Maguire delivered the clinching point in the last match of the day as Western Carolina picked up a 4-3 win over Longwood Friday afternoon at the Burlington Tennis Center in a nonconference match.
“This season we have played a lot of close matches, and I’ve felt we have been on the brink of putting it all together and pulling out a close match for a long time,” head coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins said. “I’m proud of the work the girls have been putting in and think this is great momentum leading up to a SoCon match Saturday and the SoCon Tournament next week.”
With the match knotted up a three, Maguire, who had lost the first set, 6-3, rallied to take the second set 6-4 over Bethany Law. She carried the momentum into the third set tiebreaker and pulled out a 10-8 win lifting the Catamounts to the win.
WCU claimed the doubles point for only the second time this season as WCU picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 2. The Purple & Gold won at No. 1 when Stacia Kissell and Shannon Bettiol defeated Malin Allgurin and Sarah Moomau, 8-4. The Lancers struck back when Mason Thomas and Law defeated Sara Ruiz Parajares and Maguire, 8-4, at the No. 3 spot.
WCU won the point taking a 1-0 lead in the match when Megan McLinden and Nicole Nielly pulled out an 8-5 win at No. 2 over Paloma Alatorre and Anna Pelak.
Kissell gave the Catamounts a 2-0 lead with a straight set, 6-0, 6-2, win over Allgurin at the No. 1 singles match. Kissell claimed her 15th win of the season in 19 matches all at the No. 1 singles position. She entered the day leading the league in wins and in winning percentage at the top singles spot.
Longwood cut the deficit down to 2-1 when Moomau defeated McLinden, 6-2, 3-6, 10-4, at the No. 3 pairing and evened the match at two when Pelak took down Ruiz Pajares, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6, in the No. 4 singles spot.
The two teams traded points as the Catamounts claimed a point when Bettiol defeated Alatorre, 6-2, 7-5, in the No. 2 pairing, and the Lancers won the No. 5 match when Thomas defeated Nielly in a tightly contested match, 7-5, 5-7, 10-7, setting the table for Maguire’s drama.
“This match could not have been any closer and it was great to see the girls dig deep in a high pressure situation,” Kissell-Eddins added.
The win snaps an eight-game skid for the Catamounts.
College of Charleston 6, Wofford 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston’s Kelly Kambourelis came out victorious to clinch the match for the Cougars against Wofford’s Sarah Evans as the Wofford women’s tennis team dropped its regular season finale, 6-1, Friday afternoon at the College of Charleston Tennis Center.
The Terriers close out the regular season with an overall record of 5-15. The Cougars improve to 16-7 overall with the win.
The ranked Cougars took an early 1-0 lead as they won the doubles point, clinching the match at the No. 3 match. Samantha Maddox and Jamie Harrell defeated Taylor Carlson and Emily Erickson of Wofford, 8-2, to clinch the point.
Mareli Sanchez opened up singles play defeating Thai Thompson, 6-2, 6-1, to tie up the match 1-1. However, the Cougars would tally five unanswered points to win the match, including Kambourelis’ match-clinching win on the top court, 6-0, 6-4.