Feb. 4, 2008

No. 22 Deacs Rally to Upend No. 16 Tennessee

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - It came down to a third set tiebreaker on the final court, but the No. 22 Wake Forest women's tennis successfully executed a 4-3 upset over No. 16 Tennessee at the WFU Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.

After dropping the doubles point, Sasha Kulikova, Christian Tara and Sierra Poske kept the Demon Deacons (2-1) alive against the Lady Vols (4-1) with singles wins, setting the overall match score at 3-2.

Just as the Giants and Pats were taking the field for warm-ups in Glendale, Arizona, WFU's Katarina Reveche and Rosalia Alda were getting set to start the third set of an intense match that would either extend the Lady Vol streak to 5-0, or mark the Deacs first upset of 2008.

Boston College Captures First Win of Season, Drops Columbia 6-1

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The Boston College women's tennis team captured its first win of the season by defeating Columbia, 6-1, Sunday afternoon.

The Eagles swept the doubles matches and took five out of six singles matches to up its record to 1-1 on the season.

Lana Krasnopolsky defeated Nina Suda, 6-2, 6-0 at the No. 1 match up in singles play. Krasnopolsky teamed up with Gia Nafarrete in doubles to defeat Sydney Murray and Natalia Christianson, 8-3 at the No. 3 spot.

Katharine Attwell earned her first match win of her career, defeating Natasha Makarova, 6-2, 7-5 at the No. 5 slot. She partnered with Alina Sullivan to defeat Stefanie Zilberman and Lauren Shearer, 8-6 at the No. 2 doubles position.

No. 10 Miami Overpowers No. 30 Michigan, 6-1

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - For the second straight day, the 10th-ranked University of Miami women's tennis team picked up a 6-1 win over a nationally-ranked opponent with a dominant victory over No. 30 Michigan Sunday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, just a day after beating No. 31 FIU.

With the win, the Hurricanes improve to 3-0 on the season after three consecutive convincing wins at home to open the spring. The Wolverines drop to 1-3 overall after opening the season against four-straight ranked opponents.

"I was proud of the way we competed today," head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. "We fought a lot harder than Michigan and it showed with our play, especially in the tight matches."

Romy Farah and Laura Vallverdu opened doubles play with an 8-3 win over Chisako Sugiyama and Tania Mahtani in the No. 1 position, giving Miami the early lead for the doubles point.

No. 21 FSU Shuts Out Illinois and Stetson, Finish Weekend Undefeated

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Just as they powered past Rice on Friday, the No. 21-ranked Florida State women's tennis squad continued their dominant start to the spring season with a pair of 7-0 victories over Illinois and Stetson.

"It was a good weekend for the Seminoles," said head coach Jennifer Hyde. "The girls did a great job taking care of business. It was a good couple of competitive matches for us. Right now we're just continuing to focus on getting better and working hard. We're not anywhere near where we're going to be or where we need to be."

Florida State powered through all three of its weekend matches without incurring a loss in singles or doubles, finishing with a perfect 27-0 record. In fact, the Seminoles lost just two sets through all three team matches.

No. 17 UNC Handles Michigan State, 6-1

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 17 North Carolina won its fourth consecutive home match in convincing fashion Sunday, defeating Michigan State, 6-1, at the Cone Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center. The Tar Heels (4-1) won all three doubles matches, dropping just one match in singles play.

After falling in an early 2-1 hole at No. 1 doubles, eighth-ranked Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand ran off seven straight games for an 8-2 win. Sophomore Katrina Tsang and junior Laura Reichert clinched the doubles point just moments later, finishing off an 8-3 victory at the No. 2 position. Juniors Meg Fanjoy and Austin Smith completed the sweep when they rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 8-5 at No. 3.

Marand, the No. 14 singles player in the nation, opened singles play with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Manon Noé at No. 2. The Tar Heels would then clinch the victory with two quick wins at Nos. 4 and 5. Reichert took care of Ana Milosavljevic, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 just seconds before freshman Jelena Durisic defeated Lindsey Lonergan at No. 4, 6-2, 6-2.

Ninth-Ranked Clemson Upset By #34 VCU, 4-3

CLEMSON, S.C. - Sophomore Estefania Balda won her fifth straight singles match, including four during the dual season, but the ninth-ranked Tiger women's tennis team suffered a 4-3 loss to #34 Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday afternoon at the Clemson Indoor Tennis Center.

The Tigers captured all three doubles matches for the fourth time this season, but the Rams were too powerful in singles play, winning four flights to remain undefeated at 7-0.

Clemson, which played without injured #4-ranked Ani Mijacika, fell to 3-1 on the year.

Carol Salge and Federica van Adrichem improved to 6-1 overall with an 8-3 victory over VCU's Viktoria Konstantinova and Olena Leonchuk at the number one doubles position. Tigers Ina Hadziselimovic and Alexandra Luc moved up to the second flight and edged Tatsiana Uvarova and Kateryna Yergina, 8-6, for their fifth straight doubles win.

Hokies Drop Tight Match to Ohio State, 5-2

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech women's tennis team suffered its' first loss of the 2008 dual match season with a tight 5-2 loss to No. 50 Ohio State Sunday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus. The Buckeyes improved 4-0 on the year with the victory.

Tech (3-1), ranked No. 63 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason national poll, took two of the three doubles matches for the first point of the day, but dropped five of the six singles contests.

In singles, Ohio State quickly took a 2-1 lead as Julie Blackmore defeated Jessica Brouwer (Jr., Maarssen, Netherlands), 6-0, 6-1, at No. 4, and Cami Hubbs picked up a 6-1, 6-2, victory at No. 5 over Tech's Holly Johnson (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.). The Hokies drew closer as Inga Beermann (Jr., Bad Salzuflen, Germany) won 6-2, 6-4, at No. 1 over Paloma Escobedo, but Ohio State made it 3-2 as Caitlin O'Keefe defeated Abbey Walker (Jr., Lancaster, S.C.), 6-1, 7-6 (2) in the No. 6 match.

Terps Fall to Auburn, 7-0

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland women's tennis team dropped their second match of the spring season to Auburn, 7-0, Sunday afternoon at the Tennis Center at College Park.

After winning the first set, freshman Oksana Krutiyenko dropped a close match to Auburn's Gaby Beelen, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (5), at the No. 6 singles position.

Junior Michal Amir dropped her match at the No. 1 singles slot to Auburn's, Fani Chifchieva, 6-1, 6-0. Auburn's Alex Haney defeated freshman Karin Lundmark, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 2 position, and the Tigers' Melissa Koning beat freshman Julia Huschke, 6-1, 6-2, at the No. 3 spot.

Sophomore Maggie MacKeever lost her match to Whitney Chapell, 6-0, 6-1, at the No. 4 position and sophomore Lisa Miller lost to Jil Hastenrath, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 5 spot.

No. 37 NC State Falls to No. 64 Minnesota

RALEIGH, N.C. - No. 64 Minnesota took five of six singles matches, including the first four, en route to upsetting No. 37 NC State women's tennis, 5-2, on Sunday, Feb. 3. The Pack won the doubles point, but the Golden Gophers got the job done individually on the singles end.

State got to work quickly, taking the doubles point in under an hour. Berkeley Brock and Daria Petrovic posted a large lead early against Karina Chiarelli and Lindsay Risebrough at No.1, eventually grabbing an 8-5 decision. Lenka Hojckova and Julia Roach followed suit shortly thereafter, cementing the Pack's early 1-0 advantage with an 8-4 victory over Alessandra Ferrazzi and Alex Seaton at No. 2.

Tijana Koprivica and Danielle Mousseau got the Golden Gophers lone doubles win at No. 3, downing Kristen Bleakley and Catherine Grotz, 8-4.