Friday's Women's Tennis Championship Recaps

#1 UNCG 4, #8 Georgia Southern 0

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Top-seeded UNCG swept the No. 8-seed Georgia Southern Eagles 4-0 in the second round of the Southern Conference Tennis Championships on Friday at the Earle Tennis Center.

UNCG earned the doubles point to take the early lead in the match with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. The Spartans' duo of Annette Rios and Kayla Gammie in the No. 3 position defeated the Eagles' pair of Ali Beeler and Mimi Bollaci, 8-2. Just a few minutes later UNCG's Niltooli Wilkins and Lucy Dougherty defeated GSU's Paola Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen 8-3.

The Spartans carried over the momentum into singles play as Dougherty earned the second point for UNCG defeating Alessandra Dzuba in the No. 5 position 6-0, 6-0. Stephanie Falcon earned the third point for the Spartans with a victory in the No. 6 slot over Natalie Maffett in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. The final point was netted by Alex Whitehead over Beeler 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 2 position.

UNCG advances to a Saturday matchup against the winner of the No. 4-seed Samford and No.5-seed Chattanooga match at Patriots Point at 1 p.m. The Spartans improve to 17-5 while GSU concludes their year with a 5-15 record.


#5 Chattanooga 4, #4 Samford 3

CHARLESTON, S.C.- The No. 5-seed Chattanooga upset the No. 4-seed Samford in a 4-3 match that lasted nearly five hours on Friday at the Earle Tennis Center.

Trailing 3-2, UTC's Emily Hangstefer defeated Lindsey Mallory at the No. 5 position 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to even the match at three points apiece.  Southern Conference Freshman of the Year Kaylene Chadwell then defeated Van Madelie Janse Van Rensburg in three-sets 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to send UTC to the Saturday's semifinals.

The Lady Mocs won the doubles point with victories in the No. 1 and 2 positions. Alexa Flynn and Chadwell defeated the Bulldogs' Kristin Lewis and Mallory 8-4 in the No. 1 slot. Shaina Singh and Hangstefer downed Janse Van Rensburg and Rebecca Kirven 9-7 to take the doubles point for the Mocs.

UTC went up 2-0 over Samford with a victory in the No. 1 position as Jenna Nurik defeated Lewis 6-4, 6-3. The Bulldogs earned their first point of the match will a win in the No. 4 slot as Kirven routed Singh 7-6, 6-1 and tied the match at 2-2 with a win in the No. 3 position as Stephanie N'tcha defeated the Moc's Flynn in a thrilling three-sets, 7-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Samford went up for the first time on the day (3-2) with a win in the No. 6 position as Jessica Diamond beat Claire Mulyadi 7-5, 6-1.

UTC will return to the courts on Saturday to face off against No. 1-seed UNCG at Patriots Point at 1 p.m. The Mocs improved their record to 16-5 while the Bulldogs end their season at 15-6. 

#2 College of Charleston 4, #7 Elon 0

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The No. 2-seed College of Charleston swept the No. 7-seed Elon, 4-0 to advance in the 2012 Southern Conference Tennis Championships.

College of Charleston took an early lead on the day by winning the doubles point. The Cougars' Kelly Kambourelis and Jenny Falcone defeated Elon's Barbora Lazarova and Maria Camara Ruiz in the No. 2 position 8-3. The CofC duo of Christin Newman and Katie Lee defeated Viviana Stavreva and Briana Bern 8-3 to seal the point for the Cougars.

Falcone defeated Stavreva in the No. 5 position in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to earn the second point for the Cougars. CofC proceeded to win in the No. 2 and No. 6 positions to clinch the third and fourth points to earn the team victory.

The Cougars' Kambourelis defeated the Elon's Khoury 6-2, 6-1 and Lee defeated Ruiz 6-0, 6-4.

With the win CofC improved its record to 23-5 and moves on to Saturday's semifinals. Elon concluded its season with a 15-9 record.

#3 Furman 4, #6 Appalachian State 0

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The third-seed Furman Paladins swept No. 6 Appalachian State 4-0 in the second round of the 2012 Women's SoCon Tennis Championship on Friday at the Earle Tennis Center.

Furman earned the doubles point with a win in the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Margaret Boyette and Kelly Sullivan defeated Blakeley Bean and Kim-Lea Dinh, 8-0 and Alex Moreno-Kaste and Michele Stanford defeated Ellie Linsell and Jennifer Ansari, 8-2.

The Paladins continued to control match play once singles started. Katherine Oudin defeated Jennifer Ansari 6-1, 6-1 to earn the second point for Furman. Moments later Moreno-Kaste earned a win in the No. 4 position blanking Jessica Thaggard, 6-0, 6-0. The final point was won by Boyette in the No. 3 spot, as she downed Gabriela Celi
6-1, 6-0.

The Furman Paladins will advance in the tournament to play No. 2-seed College of Charleston at 3 p.m., at Patriots Point. Furman improves to 14-9, while Appalachian State closes its season at 12-12.