College of Charleston Wins Women's Tennis Crown

College of Charleston 4, Elon 3

Box Score

ELON, N.C. – The College of Charleston’s women’s tennis team captured its fifth consecutive Southern Conference Tournament Title with a 4-3 victory over Elon Sunday.  Christin Newman’s three-set victory at No. 1 singles over Jordan Johnston clinched the win for the Cougars.

College of Charleston raced out to a 3-0 lead and saw Elon battle back to tie the match at 3-3 before the 2013 Player of the Year was able to win the deciding match for the Cougars.  CofC’s five straight tournament titles ties a record set twice by Furman (1998-2002 and 2004-08).

Newman won the first set 6-3 but Johnston took the second set 7-6 (7-4) to even the match.  Newman rebounded to take the deciding set (7-5) and clinch the team victory for the Cougars.

Thee top-seeded Cougars opened play by winning a tightly-contested doubles point.  College of Charleston’s Kelly Kambourelis and Jenny Falcone defeated Viviana Stavreva and Maria Camara Ruiz, 8-4, at No. 2 doubles.  The Phoenix responded as Johnston and Fida Jansaker won a back-and-forth affair at No. 1 doubles over Irene Viana and Katherine Schofield, 9-8. 

The doubles point hung in the balance at the No. 3 position where Samantha Maddox and Newman held off Taylor Casey and Briana Berne (8-6) to give the Cougars the opening point of the match.

Brooke McAmis pushed the Cougars ahead 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Stavreva at No. 3 singles, while Schofield’s 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 6 singles over Camara Ruiz gave College of Charleston a 3-0 lead.

The No. 2 seeded Phoenix began its rally with Jansaker’s 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 2 over Kambourelis.  Elon then cut CofC’s lead to just one (3-2) with a 6-4, 6-4 win from Barbora Lazarova over Maddox at the No. 5 position.  Bryn Khoury squared the match 3-3 with a three-set win (1-6, 6-3, 6-3) over Falcone at No. 4 singles.

Elon falls to 21-4 on the season, while College of Charleston improves to 20-8 with Sunday’s win.