Samford 7, Chattanooga 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The Samford University women’s tennis team earned its first Southern Conference regular-season title in school history Saturday as the Bulldogs battled to a hard-fought 7-0 road victory against the previous undefeated Chattanooga Mocs in a league championship match held at the UTC Tennis Courts.
Samford (13-8, 7-0 SoCon) joined the SoCon in 2008 and also notched its first undefeated conference season Saturday.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs garnered the early momentum of the showdown by winning the doubles point and taking a 1-0 advantage over Chattanooga (17-3, 5-1 SoCon). The Mocs earned the first victory, 8-2, on court No. 3, but then Samford bounced back with triumphs of 8-2 and 8-6, respectively, on courts No. 2 and No. 1.
The Bulldogs’ rally started in doubles play on court No. 1 as Samford’s pairing of Stephanie N’tcha and Carita Moolman tallied an 8-6 victory over the Mocs’ combination of Kayla Jones and Samantha Caswell, 8-6. With their win, they evened the doubles score at 1-1 and improved their record on the year to 14-5.
Samford clinched the doubles point on court No. 2 where the Bulldogs’ pairing of Yasmeen Ebada and Jessica Northcutt finished the season with a perfect 7-0 league record by defeating Chattanooga’s Kelsey Coots and Kaylene Chadwell, 8-2.
In doubles play this season, Samford boasts a brilliant 17-4 SoCon record, while Ebada and Northcutt closed out their dual-match campaign at 14-3.
Despite battling in front of 160 raucous yellow and blue-clad fans Saturday, the Bulldogs continued their stellar play in the singles competition and ended up sweeping all six courts to close out their 7-0 league win.
In singles, Samford’s Moolman and Wood both extended their identical winning streaks to eight-consecutive matches with straight-set victories.
Wood rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 triumph on court No. 6, while Moolman registered a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chattanooga’s Caswell in the No. 4 singles contest. With their respective victories, Wood improved her dual-match record to 12-5 as Moolman upped her mark to 15-3.
Samford’s Ebada and Northcutt also tallied straight-set wins in Saturday’s singles contest to clinch the Bulldogs’ victory and the SoCon regular-season title.
Ebada, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, defeated the Mocs’ Coots, 6-4, 6-1, to improve her dual-match record to 12-9, while Northcutt moved to 11-9 this season with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Chattanooga’s Chadwell.
In the closest two singles matches of the day, Samford’s Stephanie N’tcha rallied back to defeat Jones on court No. 1, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 1-0 (5), and Iva Parapunova held off the Mocs’ Claire Mulyadi on court No. 5. Mulyadi was forced to retire in the second set of action.
Furman 4, UNCG 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. – With the score tied at 3-all, senior Alex Moren-Kaste downed Kayla Gammer, 7-6(5), 7-5 in the top-flighted singles match to lead Furman past UNCG, 4-3, to conclude the regular season Saturday in the Paladins’ Senior Day match at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.
The Spartans won two of three doubles matches to clinch the opening point. Blaine Boaz and Stephanie Falcon beat sophomore Blair Martin and freshman Alejandra Gil, 8-6, at flight two, while Soumeya Anane and Masey DeMoss recorded an 8-4 advantage versus sophomore Karlee Bryde and rookie Harper Caswell at number three. The Paladins picked up the win in the top-flighted match-up, as Moreno-Kaste teamed with sophomore Ansley Speaks for an 8-4 victory over Kayla Gammie and Corinee Blythe.
Bryde put the Paladins on the board with a quick 6-2, 6-3 win over Amy Ellis at flight four singles, and Martin beat Anane, 6-3, 6-4, at number three to give Furman a 2-1 advantage. UNGC quickly knotted the score at 2-all as Jamie Grinberg topped Gil, 6-2, 6-2, at flight six, but Speaks bested Falcon, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, at flight two to put the Paladins back on top, 3-2. In the flight five contest, Blythe held on to record a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Caswell to tie the match and set up the decisive flight one match.
Western Carolina 7, King University 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Western Carolina women’s tennis team picked up its fourth sweep of the season and sixth win overall Saturday morning at the Catamount Athletic Complex as the Catamounts downed King University 7-0 in their regular season finale. The six wins are the most for WCU since 2002.
"I'm really happy about the way we finished our regular season,” said head coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins. “Not only finishing with a win at home today, but also with the fight we showed yesterday against UNCG. Our goal this season was for each of our girls to become a better player and for us as a whole to become a better team. It was not without setbacks, but I think the girls should be able to look back on our regular season as a whole and be very proud of the strides they've made for themselves and for the program. We are looking forward to the opportunity in the SoCon tournament to play another great team. Chattanooga has had a really good year and we couldn't be more excited for a second chance to play them."
With junior Erin Maguire picking up a singles victories on Saturday she joined senior Megan McLinden to become the first duo at WCU to earn 10-plus wins in a season. McLinden finishes the regular season with an 11-9 record including 9-8 at No. 1 while Maguire finishes the year at 10-12 including seven wins coming at No. 4.
King was only able to bring five players to the match on Saturday so the match featured five singles matches and two doubles matches and all counted as one point towards the team totals.
Maguire and freshman Montse Mesalles earned WCU’s first point of the day as they downed Haley Maloney and Amanda Huffaker 8-0 in the No. 2 doubles match. McLinden and freshman Elizabeth Ansari had a tougher time at No. 1 doubles as the earned a 8-5 win over Katya Cerny and Nia Gilliam.
Mesalles made quick work of her opponent, Pearl Annan, at No. 5 singles to earn WCU’s third point of the game. She won in straight sets 6-0, 6-0. Not far behind was Ansari who downed Maloney at No. 3 singles by the same score to clinch the overall match.