Wofford 4, Mercer 3
MACON, Ga. – The Wofford women’s tennis team opened Southern Conference play in the win column, downing Mercer in a hotly contested league opener, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at Mercer’s LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center.
Senior Audrey Coventry pulled through to win the match. With the Terriers leading 3-2, she put away Grace Korta in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, on court two. All four of Wofford’s points came in singles play after Mercer took two of three in doubles.
Coventry’s win snapped the senior’s four-match losing streak and improved her to 5-5 on the season in singles play.
Wofford (6-5, 1-0 SoCon) starts the conference season with a win for the second consecutive year. Last year, the Terriers won another close contest, 4-3, over Western Carolina to begin 1-0.
Mercer (4-11, 0-2 SoCon) made it tough. Sophomore Catherine Martin and junior Mareli Sanchez earned a quick 8-2 doubles win to give Wofford the early advantage, but the Bears rallied to take the point. Hayley Powell and Xandra Fougner evened double play back up on court three, 8-5, before Korta and Mercer’s Roxy Bartz defeated sophomore Kalli Karas and freshman Lauren Reid on the top court, 8-5, to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.
The Terriers put together a response by winning three straight in singles. Reid got it started, recovering from her doubles loss to defeat Liza Klyachkin with a strong second set, 7-5, 6-0, in the No. 5 hole. Sanchez followed in the No. 6 spot, easily downing Laura Kelly, 6-1, 6-2, to give Wofford the lead. On court three, Karas won a first-set tiebreak and avenged her doubles loss to Bartz, 7-6 (6-4), 6-1, earning the Terriers a 3-1 lead.
The Bears looked for a rally. Fougner defeated Martin, 6-3, 6-3, in the top spot and Mercer forced third sets in the two remaining matches.
Powell ultimately defeated Russell to earn Mercer its third point, but it was all over by then. Coventry pulled through and the Terriers celebrated a SoCon win.
Tulane 4, Samford 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University women’s tennis team squared off against one of its top rivals in the talent-laden South Region on Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 4-1 decision against the Tulane Green Wave in a non-conference showdown held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the loss, Samford (5-7) suffered just its second defeat at home this season and moved to 5-2 when playing in the friendly confines of the Samford Tennis Center.
The Bulldogs will next be in action Tuesday at 10 a.m. (CDT) as they travel to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina for a non-conference contest against UMass to be held at the College of Charleston Tennis Courts.
Against Tulane (11-4) Saturday, Samford fought valiantly in the doubles competition, but eventually dropped the opening point as the Green Wave registered victories on courts No. 1 and No. 3.
The Bulldogs’ No. 2 doubles combination of Yasmeen Ebada and Jessica Northcutt notched the team’s lone win as they battled to an impressive 7-5 victory over Tulane’s duo of Vanessa Nommensen and Nicky Stracar. With their win, Samford’s Ebada and Northcutt improved to 6-3 in doubles play this season.
In singles play Saturday, Tulane tallied straight-set wins on courts No. 3 and No. 4, while the Bulldogs’ Ebada toppled the Green Wave’s Ipek Birol, 6-2, 7-6, in the matchup on court No. 2. Ebada improved to 6-6 on the season with the victory.
On court No. 1, Samford’s Stephanie N’tcha and Tulane’s Nicky Stracar squared off in one of the most epic singles match of the 2015 season.
All three sets of the back-and-forth match went to a tiebreaker, but it was the Green Wave’s Stracar that held on for a marathon 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 win against N’tcha. The victory clinched the overall team win for Tulane with the final score of 4-1.
College of Charleston 6, UNCG 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The UNCG women’s tennis team fell on the road to end its spring break trip at the College of Charleston, 6-1, Saturday at the Patriots Point Tennis Center.
The Spartans drop to 4-6 overall and the College of Charleston improves to 3-10 with the win.
In doubles, the Cougars took a 1-0 lead after winning two doubles matches. Samantha Maddox and Mara Argyriou defeated junior Soumeya Anane and freshman Blaine Boaz, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles.
The College of Charleston clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory at No. 1 doubles as Jenny Falcone and Katherine Schofield took down senior Kayla Gammie and freshman Corinne Blythe.
Junior Jamie Grinberg and sophomore Masey DeMoss were trailing 3-4 to Grace Baker and Helena Nyikos when the doubles point was won.
In singles, Brooke McAmis won in straight sets against Gammie, 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Schofield defeated junior Amy Ellis, 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3 singles to pull ahead 3-0.
Maddox clinched the match for the Cougars with a 6-2, 6-3 win against senior Stephanie Falcon at No. 2 singles.
CofC’s Falcone won in straight sets against Blythe, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at No. 4 singles to take a 5-0 lead.
The final two match both went the distance in third set super tiebreakers. Nyikos outlasted Grinberg, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 5 singles. Grinberg forced a third set after winning the second set 7-5 but fell short in the third, 10-4.
Boaz held on to defeat Sarah Jane Jones, 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (10-8) at No. 6 singles. Boaz lost the second set, 6-7 (7-9), but bounced back to win the third set, 10-8 to claim UNCG’s lone point.