Feb. 24, 2008

Poske Clinches 4-3 Hoosier Thriller at No. 4 Singles

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - After just missing an upset over No. 15 Notre Dame on Friday, the Wake Forest women's tennis team finished the weekend with a 4-3 comeback win over No. 28 Indiana on Saturday.

The Demon Deacons are now 3-2 for the year, while Indiana is 7-3 and Notre Dame improved to 7-5.

You wouldn't know it from her cool demeanor, but WFU junior Sierra Poske is all about the drama. She earned wins in two single matches over the weekend that came down to third-set tiebreakers, including the clinching match in Wake's Saturday win over the Hoosiers.

After falling 6-1 in the first set to Indiana's Sigrid Fischer, Poske held the Germany native 3-0 through the opening second set games. Fischer then tied the set at 3-3 and took Poske to a second set tiebreaker.

Virginia Tech Upsets No. 51 Purdue, 5-2

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Virginia Tech women's team picked up a big road win with a 5-2 victory over No. 51 Purdue Saturday afternoon. The match was played at the Schwartz Tennis Center on the Purdue University campus.

Tech (8-2), ranked No. 63 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll, won the tight doubles competition for the first point of the day, then took four of the six singles contests for the victory.

In singles, Holly Johnson (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.) gave the Hokies a 2-0 advantage with her 7-5, 6-0, win at No. 6 against Alejandra Boeker, before Purdue got on the board as Anna Dzeva defeated J.J. Larson (Sr., Orchard Park, N.Y.), 6-3, 6-4, at No. 5. Purdue leveled the contest with a win at No. 1 by Brooke Beier over Inga Beermann (Jr., Bad, Salzuflen, Germany), 6-2, 6-4, but Tech retook the lead at 3-2 with Yasmin Hamza (Fr., Cairo, Egypt) picking up a come-from-behind, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, win at No. 2 over Cigdem Duru.

No. 10 Miami Eases Past No. 47 Wichita State, 6-1

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - In its final tune-up before Atlantic Coast Conference play begins, the 10th-ranked University of Miami women's tennis team took care of business against No. 47 Wichita State Saturday afternoon, picking up a 6-1 win over the Shockers at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.

A new doubles lineup for the Hurricanes led to three wins and the opening point, setting the table for a near singles sweep for UM. The `Canes won the first five singles positions in straight sets but fell just short of their second sweep this season when WSU picked up a win in the No. 6 spot to close out the match.

"I think the girls performed well as a team today," assistant coach Jeff Thomsen said. "Coming off last week's match against Baylor, a solid win today is just what we needed heading into conference play."

Clemson Sweeps In-State Rival South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Ani Mijacika, the nation's top singles player, won her match on Saturday and the 24th-ranked Clemson women's tennis team cruised to a 7-0 victory, handing #31 South Carolina (6-1) its first loss of the year.

The win was the Tigers' first since Feb. 2 and improved their overall record to 4-6.

Mijacika posted her 17th singles win of the year, defeating #35 Gira Schofield in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) at the top position.

The Clemson sophomore paired with Carol Salge in doubles competition to record a third straight victory over a ranked opponent. Mijacika and Salge won, 8-6, over 17th-ranked Schofield and Ana Marija Zubori at flight one.

In her first match since Feb. 10, Ina Hadziselimovic teamed with Alexandra Luc to defeat Suzanna Mansour and Megan McGavock at flight three, 8-5, while Estefania Balda and Federica van Adrichem won against South Carolina's Miljana Jocic and Natasa Vuckovic, 8-3, to clinch the doubles point for the Tigers. Clemson is now 8-2 in doubles play.

Terrapins Rally, Drop Match to No. 56 Penn, 4-3

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland women's team dropped a close match to No. 56 Pennsylvania, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at the Tennis Center at College Park. The Terps fell to 1-5 on the season, while the Quakers improved to 3-1 on the year.

The Terrapins won just one of the three doubles matches to start off the match. At the No. 2 doubles spot, sophomore Maggie MacKeever and freshman Julia Huschke defeated Penn's Yulia Rivelis and Amanda Avedissian, 9-7.

Junior captain Michal Amir and sophomore Lisa Miller fell to Ekaterina Kosminskaya and Julia Koublitskaya, 8-4, at the No. 1 doubles slot and freshmen Adela Matejkova and Karin Lundmark fell to Michelle Mitchell and Charlotte Tansill, 8-4, at the No. 3 doubles slot.

The Terps went on to split the singles matches with the Quakers. Amir defeated Kosminskaya at the No. 1 spot, 6-4, 6-4, while Lundmark beat Rivelis, 7-5, 6-4, at the No. 2 position. MacKeever won her match over Tansill, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, at the No. 4 spot.

No. 4 Georgia Outlasts No. 1 Georgia Tech, 4-3

ATLANTA - Monika Dancevic battled back after losing her first set to clinch a 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 win at the No. 3 singles, giving No. 4 Georgia (7-1) a 4-3 victory over No. 1 Georgia Tech (7-2) Saturday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.

"Georgia really fought out there on the court today," said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. "They played extremely well, never giving up. They deserved the victory today."

Dancevic fell behind 5-3 in the third set but won the next four games to give the Bulldogs just their second win in the last five matches against the Yellow Jackets. Georgia fell to Georgia Tech, 7-0, just two weeks ago in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

Tech took an early 1-0 lead in the match after Whitney McCray and Sasha Krupina rallied from a 7-5 deficit to earn a 9-7 victory over No. 21 Yvette Hyndman and Naoko Ueshima at No. 2 doubles. The win followed Christy Striplin and Noelle Hickey's 8-3 victory at the No. 3 spot against Georgia's Cameron Ellis and Adrienne Elsberry to begin the day.

Boston College 5, Yale 2

More to follow...