Feb. 25, 2008

No. 20 FSU Moves to 8-1 With Win over No. 35 LSU

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - With one final swing of her racquet, Florida State freshman Federica Suess ended a difficult, three-set battle to give the No. 20 Seminoles (8-1) their 14th-straight win at home over No. 35 Louisiana State (5-2) on Sunday, Feb. 24.

"This was definitely a total team effort," said head coach Jennifer Hyde. "It's always good when everyone contributes in one way or another and that's what it took for us to get the job done today."

For just the second time in her young career, Suess (Ludwigshafen, Germany) dropped her first set 2-6 and was forced to ink her 19th victory of the year in the final two sets 6-1, 6-4 to give Florida State the win.

"For Federica, clinching the team win at number six as a freshman was just great," said Hyde. "Now she has that experience under belt that she will be able to use later in the season."

No. 5 UNC Bounces Back To Top No. 15 Notre Dame, 6-1

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 5 North Carolina got wins in five of six singles matches to defeat No. 15 Notre Dame, 6-1, Sunday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center. UNC, which had lost three straight matches to top-10 opponents, defeated its fourth ranked foe of 2008. No. 12 Sanaz Marand rallied from down a set to defeat No. 59 Kelcy Tefft, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, and remain unbeaten in dual matches this season.

Carolina (7-4) took the early lead by winning two of three doubles matches against the Irish, who were playing their third match in four days. Junior Laura Reichert and senior Alexandra Jurewitz scored an 8-3 victory over No. 45 Cosmina Ciobanu and Colleen Rielley at No. 3 to put the Tar Heels in the driver's seat. Just a few minutes later, juniors Austin Smith and Sophie Grabinski finished an 8-2 win over Kali Krisik and Kristen Rafael at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point. Marand and sophomore Katrina Tsang just missed their second top-10 win of the weekend, falling to No. 3 Kelcy Tefft and Brook Buck, 8-5.

Terps Rout Old Dominion, 5-2

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland women's tennis team defeated Old Dominion, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at the Tennis Center at College Park. The Terrapins improved to 2-5 on the season, while the Monarchs fell to 3-3 on the year.

The Terps started off the match losing two of three doubles match-ups. At the No. 3 doubles position, freshmen Karin Lundmark and Adela Matejkova beat Old Dominion's Daniela Cohen and Jana Kubicikova, 8-3.

The duo of junior captain Michal Amir and sophomore Lisa Miller lost to Charleen Haarhoff and Nadine Fahoum, 8-6, while sophomore Maggie MacKeever and freshman Julia Huschke fell to Barbara Costa and Joanna Dobrowolska, 8-5.

Freshman Oksana Krutiyenko clinched the win for the Terrapins at the No. 6 position, defeating Kubicikova, 6-3, 6-3. MacKeever won the first singles match for the Terps at the No. 4 singles slot, beating Costa, 6-4, 6-3.

No. 41 NC State Downs No. 72 Princeton, 6-1

RALEIGH, N.C. - The No. 41 NC State women's tennis team defeated No 72 Princeton 6-1 in the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. With the victory the Wolfpack improve to 5-3 on the season and Princeton falls to an even 5-5 this year.

The Wolfpack were able to secure the doubles point as it has in all but one match this season. The duo of Catherine Grotz and Kristen Bleakley were able to get the match started off on the right foot as they dismantled Sarah Huffman and Sarah Huah 8-2. Daria Petrovic and Berkley Brock defeated Ivana King and Rebecca Parks 8-4 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the doubles point. At No. 2 doubles Lenka Hojckova and Julia Roach won 8-4 over Taylor Marable and Melissa Saiontz to give the Pack a clean sweep in doubles.

Virginia Tech Falls 5-2 at Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky.- The Virginia Tech women's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision Sunday afternoon to the Louisville Cardinals in a match played at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center on the University of Louisville campus. The Cardinals improve to 6-3 with the win, while the Hokies, ranked No. 63 nationally, fall to 8-3 on the year.

Louisville took a close doubles competition for the first point then captured four of the six singles matches for the victory.

In singles, Inga Beermann (Jr., Bad Salzflen, Germany) won her No. 1 match, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (6), against Lauren Imre and Yasmin Hamza (Fr., Cairo, Egypt) defeated Lindsey Jones, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 2. Elsewhere the results were not as good as Jessica Long (Sr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) fell 7-6 (5), 7-5, in her No. 3 match versus Bianca Gorbea, J.J. Larson (Sr., Orchard Park, N.Y.) lost 6-3, 6-3, at No. 4 to Natalia Baez, Abbey Walker (Jr., Lancaster, S.C.) suffered an injury only two games into her No. 5 match against Robyn White and lost 1-1 (ret., injury) and Holly Johnson (Fr. Tallahassee, Fla.) dropped her No. 6 contest, 6-2, 6-4, versus Jo-Ann Van Aerde.

No. 8 Duke Falls Short Against No. 2 Northwestern, 5-2

DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 8 Duke women's tennis team dropped its first match of the season on Sunday afternoon as the Blue Devils came up short against No. 2 Northwestern by a score of 5-2 at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

Northwestern took the doubles point to go ahead 1-0, as Maria Mosolova and Alexis Conill combined for an 8-4 win over the Blue Devil freshman pair of Reka Zsilinszka and Ellah Nze at No. 3, and the 48th-ranked Wildcat duo of Suzie Matzenauer and Samantha Murray got past sophomores Elizabeth Plotkin and Jessi Robinson, 9-7, at No. 2 to clinch the point.

Action at the top doubles spot saw the sixth-ranked Duke tandem of sophomore Amanda Granson and junior Melissa Mang drop a narrow 8-7 (7-5) decision to 44th-ranked Lauren Lui and Georgia Rose.

Northwestern increased its advantage to 2-0 by way of an injury default on court four, as 38th-ranked Plotkin was forced to the bench with a 5-4 first-set lead over 42nd-ranked Lui.

Cavaliers' Upset Bid of Tennessee Falls Short

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Virginia women's tennis team had its four match winning streak snapped Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 loss to No. 23 Tennessee at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers' upset bid fell short as they fall to 5-4 on the season.

The Lady Volunteers (6-2) won the doubles point, which proved to be crucial. Virginia opened strong by getting an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles where Maggie Yahner (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Lindsey Pereira (Arlington, Texas) topped Rosiana Alda and Ghizela Schutte. However, Tennessee won at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions to take the opening point.

In singles, Tennessee extended its lead to 2-0 with a win at No. 6 singles. Virginia rallied with three straight-set wins to take a 3-2 lead. Pereira cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Samantha Orlin at No. 3 singles. Amanda Rales (Bethesda, Md.) upset No. 66 Caitlin Whoriskey 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 1 position. Yahner also recorded a ranked win, topping No. 90 Zsofia Zubor 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles.