Charleston Southern 7, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College women’s tennis team suffered a 7-0 sweep at the hands of Charleston Southern on Sunday afternoon at the Reeves Tennis Center.
The Buccaneers pulled off the sweep in doubles play, taking all three matchups for the team point. The No. 1 spot finished first, as sophomore Catherine Martin and junior Mareli Sanchez dropped an 8-2 decision to Angelica Sidorenko and Mi’Kola Cooper. Next to finish was No. 2, where sophomore Kalli Karas and freshman Samantha Russell fell, 8-3, to Nicolin Luecke and Yvonne Hubler. Sophomore Taylor Carlson and freshman Lauren Reid played the closest match, falling 8-5 to Marketa Placha and Sophie Cloessner.
In singles play, Russell was the lone Terrier to play three sets, extending the match before eventually falling to Luecke, 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 at the No. 4 spot.
The remaining Terriers were taken care of in straight sets. Karas was the first to be defeated, downed 6-2, 6-1 by Sidorenko at No. 3. Next was Sanchez who Koussenkova dropped, 6-0, 6-1, quickly followed by a Reid defeat, 6-0, 6-4 at the No. 5 spot to Cooper.
The top two seeds fell next. Senior Audrey Coventry faced a setback at No. 2, 6-4, 6-2 to Hubler. Martin played at No. 1, where Placha prevailed, 6-2, 6-2. Russell finished last.
The loss drops Wofford to 4-4 on the season.
Tennessee 4, Chattanooga 3
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga nearly pulled off a signature win against No. 31 Tennessee today. The Mocs closed a 3-1 deficit to tie the match before falling 4-3 to the Volunteers in Knoxville, Tenn., today.
“It was a back and forth match all day,” stated head coach Jeff Clark. “I really thought we had a chance to win, but you have to give credit to Tennessee for pulling out the victory. We are all disappointed, but we played well and battled hard.”
With the team score tied at 3-3, Chattanooga freshman Samantha Caswell was the last Moc on the court. She dropped her first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker to Tiffany Tavares. Caswell forced a third set with a 6-4 win in the second.
In the final frame, Caswell quickly got down 2-0 before winning three straight to go up 3-2. She had multiple game-points to take a 4-2 lead, but Tavares fought those off to tie it at 3-3. Tavares went back up 4-3 before Caswell evened it again at 4-4. That was as close as it would get as Tavares took the last two games for the win.
Tennessee opened the match by flexing its muscle in doubles play. The Vols No. 1 tandem of Joanna Henderson and Caitlyn Williams is ranked No. 36 in the nation and defeated UTC’s undefeated duo of Caswell and junior Kayla Jones (6-2). UT clinched the first point when Eve Repic and Victoria Olivarez beat senior Kaylene Chadwell and junior Kelsey Coots (6-3) at No. 2.
Tennessee forfeited at No. 6, so the match was tied 1-1 with five singles to play. The Vols quickly went up 3-1 with straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 2.
Chattanooga stormed by with three-set wins at No. 5 and No. 3. Senior Claire Mulyadi defeated Ashlee Boles (6-2, 0-6, 6-0) at No. 5, followed by Coots comeback win over Olivarez at No. 3 (1-6, 6-3, 6-4).