Western Carolina 4, Mercer 3
MACON, Ga. – The Western Carolina women’s tennis team earned its first Southern Conference victory since 2011 Saturday afternoon at SoCon newcomer Mercer. It also marks the first Southern Conference victory for head coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins who took over the program prior to last season. The Catamounts defeated Mercer 4-3 as they swept the No. 1 through No. 4 singles matches.
“Today we came together as a team and were able to pull off a great feat,” said Kissell-Eddins. “After losing the doubles point we were able to win four out of five of the singles matches on the conference stage. I couldn't be more proud of this group of girls. We have been facing adversity and injuries all season but this team refuses to give up on our goals. That's basically today in a nutshell, we just refused to give up.”
Once again the Catamounts were forced to forfeit a pair of matches due to having just five active players on the roster. Starting in a 0-1 hole in the doubles portion of the match, juniors Nicole Nielly and Erin Maguire teamed up to win the No. 2 doubles match over Laura Kelly and Xandra Fougner 8-3. Unfortunately senior Megan McLinden and junior Shannon Bettiol were unable to take the No. 1 doubles match which gave Mercer the doubles point and a 2-0 lead heading into singles competition due to the forfeit at No. 6 singles.
WCU fell behind 3-0 after freshman Montse Mesalles fell in the No. 5 singles match 6-3, 6-1 to Roxy Bartz.
Bettiol began the comeback at No. 2 singles as she downed Grace Korta 6-2, 6-4 to earn her third singles victory of the season. Nielly then finished in the No. 3 singles match with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Laura Kelly.
McLinden pulled the match even at three as she won an epic battle with Xandra Fougner in the No. 1 spot. McLinden won the first set 6-2 before dropping the second set 6-3. She took a 5-4 lead in the third set and was serving for the match when Fougner broke her serve and tied the set at five. Fougner then took a 6-5 lead but McLinden forced a tiebreaker with a win in the 12th game. McLinden found herself down 4-2 in the tiebreaker but rattled off five-straight points to win the tiebreaker and match 7-4.
When McLinden finished her match, Maguire was tied 2-2 in the third set of her match with the win on the line. Maguire and Haley Powell spent three hours and 45 minutes on the court to decide the No. 4 singles match. Maguire lost the first set 7-5 before taking the second set 6-4. With the third set tied at two Maguire went on to win four of the next six games to win the match 6-4.
The Catamounts are now 2-4 overall and 1-0 in Southern Conference play. The Bears of Mercer fall to 4-8 overall and 0-1 in SoCon action.
South Alabama 5, Samford 2
MOBILE, Ala. -- The Samford University women's tennis team remained winless in road matches Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped a 5-2 decision against the undefeated South Alabama Jaguars in a hard-fought South Region showdown held at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
Samford (5-6) has already faced a challenging road slate of matches this season with difficult losses at No. 10 Georgia, No. 63 Wake Forest, No. 71 Mississippi State, Middle Tennessee and South Alabama (8-0).
The Bulldogs own a near-perfect 5-1 record at home this season, but are 0-5 when playing outside of the friendly confines of the Samford Tennis Center.
The Jaguars opened the season with an 8-0 record for a second straight season.
South Alabama claimed the doubles point with wins on courts No. 1 and No. 3. In the No. 2 doubles contest, the match was suspended with the score deadlocked at 5-5.
The Bulldogs claimed a pair of victories in singles play as senior Stephanie N'tcha and junior Carita Moolman both earned straight-set triumphs.
N'tcha, Samford's All-Southern Conference standout from Abomey-Calavi, Benin, tallied an impressive 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over the Jaguars' Laura Valkova on court No. 1, while Moolman improved her brilliant singles record on the season to 7-1 with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Michaela Meszarosova at the No. 4 position. N'tcha owns a 6-4 dual-match record in 2015.
Despite the Bulldogs' victories from N'tcha and Moolman, South Alabama was able to clinch the overall team win with singles triumphs on courts No. 2, No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6.
Emily Newton clinched the match for the Jaguars in her eighth singles win for the season with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 victory over Yasmeen Ebada on the No. 2 court.