Furman 4, Georgia State 3

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman women's tennis team picked up its first win of the season Saturday afternoon, defeating #57 Georgia State, 4-3, at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.  The Panthers jumped out to a 3-1 lead before the Paladins roared back with three straight singles wins to end the match.

In singles action, the Paladins picked up wins in four out of six matches.  Freshman Lauren Kline defeated Tereza Lerova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at number two singles, and senior Jessica Preeg posted a 6-4, 7-5 win over Katerina Gresova in the fourth singles position.  Sophomore Susan Bitetti won at number five singles, with a 6-2, 6-1 match against Linda Hricistova, and junior Jennifer Betts won by default in the sixth singles position. 

Georgia State's Diana Nakic defeated Paladin junior Monica Arguello 6-3, 6-2 at number one singles, and Kir Kemp beat Paladin freshman Michele Stanford 6-3, 6-3 in the third singles spot.

The Panthers won the doubles point, with Nakic and Hricistova beating Arguello and Kline 8-3 at number one doubles, and Gresova and Lerova defeating Betts and Stanford 8-4 in the second doubles position.  Furman freshman Olivia Maurice and Preeg won by default at number three doubles. 

Furman (1-3) will play a home double-header on Tuesday.  The Paladins will face UNC Asheville at 3 p.m., followed by Presbyterian at 7 p.m.


Georgia Southern 5, Florida Atlantic 2

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Fighting strong winds all day, Georgia Southern officially opened the 2010 dual match season with a 5-2 routing of Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon (Feb. 6). The Eagles won the doubles point and clinched the match grabbing the first three singles contests off the court. Georgia Southern stands at 1-0 on the year, while FAU dropped to 2-3.

"We played a great match this afternoon against a great team," said head coach Amy Bonner. "It is nice to open our season with a win and hopefully we can carry the same momentum over to tomorrow's match against Stetson."

Walking away with wins from the first two doubles matches off the court, GS was able to grab the early 1-0 lead. Pairing up at the No. 3 seed, Melanie Rolle (Gainesville, Fla.) and Allison Beeler (Alpharetta, Ga.) handled Dominique Wimmer and Natalia Totevska, 8-4, to give the Eagles the first doubles match. Senior Kristi Kegerreis (Fairfax, Va.) paired with newcomer Ashley Hungerford (Clearwater, Fla.) to secure the doubles point at the two seed with an 8-5 victory over Erika Mrazkova and Natasha Basma. Battling hard at the top seed, FAU managed to pull out an 8-6 win over Ali Beavers (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Natalie Maffett (Rome, Ga.).

Georgia Southern quickly clinched the match taking the first three singles matches in straight sets. Beavers, starring at the top seed for the first time in her collegiate career, finished first on the courts. The junior dropped only three games en route to a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Humair for a 2-0 Georgia Southern lead. Rolle, competing at the No. 3 position, notched a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Owl Bergeson before senior Kegerreis clinched the match at the four seed for the Eagles. Kegerreis uprooted Mrazkova in two sets, 6-3, 6-4, to seal the Georgia Southern win.

The Owls got on the scoreboard taking the next two decisions at the No. 5 and 2 seeds. Basma came away with a victory over Jessica Fuller (Cartersville, Ga.) at the No. 5 position, while Totevska edged Maffett in a super tiebreak. Transfer junior Hungerford closed out match play defeating Wimmer in a third set tiebreak. Hungerford dropped two games for a first set win, but fell in a second set tiebreak. The Eagle secured the win with a 10-7 super tiebreak victory.

Georgia Southern returns to the hard courts and closes out this season-opening road trip taking on Stetson, Sunday, Feb. 7 at noon.

Davidson 7, Wingate 0
Davidson 7, North Carolina A&T 0

DAVIDSON, N.C. ­-  The Davidson women's tennis team remained a perfect 3-0 on the season when they picked up a pair of 7-0 wins over visiting Wingate and North Carolina A&T on Saturday at the Knobloch Indoor Tennis Center.

Four Wildcats kept their singles records unblemished, while two others earned their first wins of the 2010 season.

Alison Rauh and Samantha Galainena pushed their records to 3-0 with a pair of singles wins, while Stephani Synn and Teresa Wang each tallied their second singles wins of the season.

Galainena swept through her two singles matches against the Bulldogs (1-2) and Aggies (0-1), earning two 6-0, 6-0 triumphs at No. 4 and 5 positions, respectively. Rauh dropped just two games in her first match vs. Wingate, taking home a 6-0, 6-2 win and then closed out the afternoon with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over A&T's Jaymee Jones at No. 2.

Synn and Wang, in their only matches of the day, scored a 6-1, 6-0 triumph at No. 6 and a 6-0, 6-1 triumph at No. 4 vs. Wingate.

Wang also played in two doubles matches with fellow senior Virginia Berry, cleaning up two wins with 8-5 and 8-2 victories at the No. 1 spot. Davidson swept all six doubles matches on the day.

Berry cruised to her first two singles wins of the year at the No. 1 spot in picking up her 49th and 50th career wins overall. She started the day off with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Kara Staskikelis vs. Wingate, and then closed out the perfect day with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Quick Winnie of North Carolina A&T.

Picking up their first wins of the 2010 season was Katharine Dicconson and Romina Clemente. Dicconson teamed with Galainena at No. 3 doubles for an 8-2 win over the Aggies, and then gave up just three games in taking a 6-3, 6-0 win over Azeib Nigatu at No. 5 singles.

Clemente, who played mainly doubles last year, scored her first collegiate singles win with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 6 over Cayla Cross of N.C. A&T.


Elon 7, Winston-Salem State 0
North Carolina 7, Elon 0

ELON, N.C. -- The Elon Phoenix women's tennis team split a pair of matches on Saturday, defeating the Winston-Salem State Lady Rams 7-0 from the Olde Forest Raquet Club in the morning before dropping a 7-0 decision to the 11th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill in the evening.  Highlighting the day's action was Elon's upset of UNC's 28th-ranked doubles team at the number one position.  
 
The Phoenix (5-3) began the day by playing pro sets against the Lady Rams (1-5) and cruised to a 7-0 victory.

In doubles play, Elon earned identical 8-3 wins at all three positions as Paige Kensrue and Daleen Kloppers dropped Kayla Carter and Kalin Jarvis at number one, Briana Berne and Laura Graybill upended Sloane Holmes and Bianka Locklear at number two and Jessica Margolis and Hayley Wahl defeated Chelsea Chatman and Johanna Nunez at number three.
 
The Phoenix then flew through singles play, winning all six matches without losing more than four games.
 
Anna Milian defeated Nunez 8-3 at number one while Elisa Simonetti picked up an 8-4 decision at number two over Holmes.  Berne grabbed an 8-1 win over Carter at three while Lauren Sessoms dropped Jarvis 8-3.  Graybill and Margolis each won 8-2, claiming victories over Chatman and Locklear at five and six, respectively.
 
In the nightcap, the Phoenix dropped the doubles point, but saw its top pair of Milian and Simonetti garner an impressive 8-6 victory over North Carolina's top pair of Jocelyn Ffriend and Haley Hemm who are ranked 28th in the country.
 
At number two doubles, Kensrue and Kloppers fell 8-4 to Gina Suarez Malaguti and Shinann Featherston.  The third doubles position saw UNC's Zoe De Bruycker and Linzee Mabrey knock off Elon's Berne and Graybill 8-2.
 
The 11th-rated Tar Heels (7-0) took a 2-0 lead in the match when Jelena Durisic handed Kensrue a 6-1, 6-2 loss at number two singles.  At number four, De Bruycker defeated Berne 6-0, 6-0 before Ffreind clinched the match for UNC with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sessoms at number five.
 
Finishing next was the number three match where Suarez-Malaguti defeated Simonetti 6-2, 6-2.  At the top spot, Milian gave 25th-ranked Sanaz Marand a competitive match before falling 6-3, 6-2.  The final point came when Graybill fell by a 6-3, 6-1 score to Mabrey at the number six position.
 
Elon returns home to take on UNC Wilmington in a 2:30 p.m. contest on Friday afternoon from the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.