Chattanooga 7, Western Carolina 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina suffered a setback in Southern Conference women’s tennis action on Wednesday afternoon, falling in straight sets, 7-0, to one of the league-leaders, Chattanooga, on-campus at the Catamount Athletic Complex.
Chattanooga (17-2, 5-0 SoCon) claimed its 10th-straight victory on the season, clinching the victory in singles competition on the third individual match win against the short-handed Catamount side. UTC’s Samantha Caswell downed WCU junior Erin Maguire 6-0 and 6-1 to claim the first win for the visiting Mocs in the fourth flight, while WCU freshman Montse Mesalles dropped a decision to Claire Mulyadi by the same count at No. 5.
In addition to the singles point gained by the vacated spot at No. 6, the match was decided when UTC’s Kelsey Coots defeated junior Shannon Bettiol, 6-1 and 6-2, at No. 3.
After dropping the first set, 6-0, WCU senior Megan McLinden put up quite a fight in the No. 1 spot before eventually falling to UTC’s Kayla Jones – the defending SoCon Player of the Week – by a count of 6-4.
The most entertaining match of the day occurred at No. 3. WCU junior Nicole Nielly bounced back strong after dropping the opening set, 6-1, to Kaylene Chadwell. Nielly forced the second set to the brink before bowing out, 7-5.
With the final decision already in the books, the two squads played a pair of doubles matches at No. 1 and No. 2 with the third flight claimed by UTC by default. The Catamounts’ No. 1 doubles squad of McLinden and Bettiol grabbed an early, 4-3, lead in their match against Jones/Caswell. However, the Mocs’ top flight rallied to claim five-straight sets to claim the match, 8-4. It also gave UTC the final point of the day.
At No. 2 doubles, the pairing of Nielly and Mesalles fell by three, 8-5, to UTC’s duo of Rachele Gazzola and Storie.
Troy 4, Samford 3
TROY, Ala. -- The Samford University women’s tennis team suffered its first defeat in nearly four weeks Wednesday as the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision against the Troy Trojans in an in-state, South Regional duel held at the Lunsford Tennis Complex.
With the heartbreaking loss, Samford (10-8) had its five-match winning streak come to an end as the Bulldogs felt defeat for the first time since March 14. After losing at home to Tulane, 4-1, Samford rattled off five-consecutive victories against UMass, 4-3, Furman, 5-2, Wofford, 7-0, Mercer, 6-1, and ETSU, 4-3.
Troy (9-8) tallied Wednesday’s match-clinching win at the No. 3 singles position as the Trojans’ Jiayuan Xue outlasted the Bulldogs’ Jessica Northcutt in a three-set marathon, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Xue’s victory broke a 3-3 draw in the team contest.
Playing in front of a rambunctious home crowd, Troy jumped out to an early 2-0 lead by winning the doubles point and then taking a victory in the No. 1 singles match.
Despite its initial deficit, Samford never lost faith and rebounded with straight-set singles triumphs from Carita Moolman on court No. 4 and Yasmeen Ebada at No. 2.
Moolman, the Bulldogs’ talented junior from Aranos, Namibia, extended her winning streak to five-consecutive matches by breezing to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Trojans’ Margot De Haan. With the win, Moolman trimmed Troy’s deficit to 2-1 and improved her dual-match record to 12-3 on the season.
After a Trojans’ win on court No. 5, Samford’s Ebada defeated Sanae Ohta in the No. 2 singles matchup, 6-4, 6-2, to make the overall score of the contest 3-2. Additionally, the Bulldogs’ talented senior from Cairo, Egypt, upped her singles record on the season to 9-9.
With Troy needing just one more singles win to claim Wednesday’s dual-match victory, Samford’s Savannah Wood came through under pressure by earning a thrilling 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 come-from-behind triumph against the Trojans’ Brooke Durden in the No. 6 singles matchup. Wood improved to 10-5 with the victory and extended her singles winning streak to six-consecutive matches.
Wood’s triumph set up the final contest on court No. 3 where Troy’s Xue was able to hold off the Bulldogs’ Northcutt in the decisive win.