March 2, 2008

No. 20 Florida State Upsets No. 10 Miami 5-2

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The No. 20 Florida State women's tennis team upset No. 10 Miami at home at the Scott Speicher Tennis Courts. The Seminoles (9-1) defeated the Hurricanes (7-3) 5-2 with freshman Federica Suess clinching the victory today, February 29, 2008. This is the Seminoles first victory over Miami since 2000 and the first win for head coach Jennifer Hyde over the Hurricanes throughout her coaching and playing career at Florida State.

"We have been working really hard on doubles in trying to get combinations that work," stated Hyde. "We've been working on a lot of specific things with the girls individually. It's great to see these things paying off. This is such a competitive conference; I think that this definitely gives us confidence with regards to conference play."

The Seminoles started strong in doubles competition winning the first two matches. Senior Carolin Walter (Bingen, Germany) and freshman Katie Rybakova (Coral Springs, Fla.) defeated Bianca Eichkorn and Caren Seenauth 8-1 while sophomores Jessica Wente (Whitehouse, Texas) and Lauren Macfarlane (Ogden, Utah) beat Gina Sabatino and Michaella Kissell 8-5 to win the first point.

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No. 2 Yellow Jackets Sting No. 16 Irish, 5-2

ATLANTA - Freshman Noelle Hickey keyed a Yellow Jacket comeback to lead No. 2 Georgia Tech (9-2) to a 5-2 win against No. 16 Notre Dame (7-7) Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.

Hickey began the afternoon by teaming with Christy Striplin to earn Tech's lone doubles win on the afternoon, an 8-7 (4) tiebreaker victory at the No. 2 spot against the Irish's Kali Krisik and Kristen Rafael. She then tied the match at 1-1 when she breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Krisik at the No. 5 singles position.

No. 30 Kirsten Flower pushed the score to 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Cosmina Ciobanu at the No. 3 spot before fourth-ranked Amanda McDowell knocked off the Irish's Brook Buck, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2 singles.

Nineteenth-ranked Maya Johansson clinched the match for Georgia Tech by stopping Rafael, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 6 position, and No. 6 Kristi Miller capped the Yellow Jacket scoring with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 59 Kelcy Tefft at the top of the singles lineup.

Terrapins Top Miami (Ohio), 4-3

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland women's tennis team held on to beat Miami (OhIo) Saturday afternoon, 4-3, after jumping out to a quick lead. The Terrapins improved to 3-6 on the season, while the RedHawks fell to 6-3.

The Terps won the first two doubles matches to strike first. Junior captain Michal Amir and sophomore Lisa Miller at the No. 1 doubles slot were the first to win, with their defeat of Miami's Brintney Larson and Sydnee Bridger, 8-3. Sophomore Maggie MacKeever and freshman Julia Huschke secured the point for the Terps at the No. 2 doubles slot. The duo beat Megan Martzolf and Cara Wald, 8-6.

Freshmen Karin Lundmark and Adela Matejkova dropped their No. 3 doubles match to Leda Pesatova and Kelly Douple, 8-4.

The Terrapins went on to claim the first two singles matches. Amir, at the No. 1 singles slot, won the first singles point by beating Larson, 6-3, 6-2. MacKeever won the second doubles point at the No. 3 position with her win over Pesatova, 6-2, 6-4. Miller clinched the win for the Terps with her shut-out victory over Bridger, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 6 singles position.

Virginia Tech Wins 5-2 at Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. - The Virginia Tech women's team got back on the winning track Saturday afternoon with a 5-2 win over the Richmond Spiders. The match was played at the Westhampton Tennis Complex on the University of Richmond campus.

Tech (9-3), ranked No. 60 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll, took two of the three doubles matches for the first point of the day, then won four of the six singles contests for the victory.

In singles, Yasmin Hamza (Fr., Cairo, Egypt) defeated Ashlee Vosters, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 2 while Jessica Long (Sr. Elizabethtown, Pa.) cruised to a 6-1, 6-1, victory in the No. 3 match over Erin Clark. Holly Johnson (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.) had no trouble at No. 5 winning 6-2, 6-1, against Xenia Schneider and Natalie Kretzer (Jr., Chesterfield, Va.) recorded the final singles win, 7-5, 6-2, versus Isabel Arana in the No. 6 event.

Hokies Stun No. 25 VCU, 4-3

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The No. 60 Virginia Tech Hokies came from behind to defeat the No. 25 VCU Rams, 4-3, as Jessica Long (Sr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) earned the deciding point with a three-set win in singles action at Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center. The Hokies improve to 10-3 on the season but still have to play Longwood later in the afternoon.

VCU's Burns/Petrashevich began the day by winning the No. 2 doubles match over Larson/Beermann, 8-5. Uvarova/Konstantinova clinched the doubles point in the No. 1 match by defeating Brouwer/Hamza with an identical score, 8-5. Yergina/Leonchuk beat Long/Johnson, 8-7, to sweep the doubles for the Rams as they took a 1-0 lead.

Virginia Tech Blanks Longwood, 7-0

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech's women's team, which earlier in the day shocked No. 25 Virginia Commonwealth, 4-3, in a thrilling contest, suffered no letdown in the second match of the day with a dominating 7-0 over Longwood. The match was played at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

Tech (11-3), ranked No. 60 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll, took all three of the doubles matches for the first point of the day, then captured all of the six singles contests for the victory.

In singles, Inga Beermann (Jr., Bad Salzuflen, Germany) defeated Sofia Jakab, 6-0, 7-6, at No. 1, Yasmin Hamza (Fr., Cairo, Egypt) blanked Laura Simon, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2, as did Holly Johnson (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.) in her No. 3 match versus Mason Davis.

No. 20 FSU Women's Tennis Completes South Florida Sweep With 7-0 Win Over FIU

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - After a huge victory like the No. 20 Florida State women's tennis team had over 10th-ranked rival Miami on Friday, it's very conceivable that the Seminoles could have had a letdown in their Sunday (March 2) match with Florida International. That was anything but the case as Florida State rolled to a 7-0 decision over the Panthers at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.

FSU improved to 10-1 on the year and stayed undefeated at home. Florida International dropped to 3-6. "We're at the point where the confidence is high, but it's not so much that we can take anyone ever for granted," FSU head coach Jennifer Hyde said of the potential letdown. "FIU has been a dangerous team every year that I've been here and even without a couple of players in the line-up they are unbelievably competitive."

Florida International only had five players make the trip so they forfeited the number six singles position. Sophomore Lauren Macfarlane (Ogden, Utah) cruised through her singles match at number two. She only dropped four games the entire way as she beat Priscilla Castillo 6-2, 6-2.

No. 75 BC Defeats Harvard, 5-2

BOSTON, Mass. - The Boston College women's tennis team swept all three doubles sets and took four of six singles matches to defeat Harvard, 5-2. The Eagles are now 6-1 on the season and have won six straight matches.

Dasha Cherkasov, Lauren Cash, Alina Sullivan and Alison Wagner all picked up singles wins for the Eagles.

Cherkasov defeated Stephanie Schnitter at the No. 2 position, 6-3, 2-6 and 1-0 (4). Cash won at the No. 3 position, Sullivan at No. 4 and Wagner at No. 5.

In doubles action, Cherkasov and Cash teamed up to defeat Rosekrans and Peterzan at the in the No. 1 slot, 8-2. Katharine Attwell and Sullivan won at the No. 2 spot, 8-5, and Gia Nafarrete and Lana Krasnopolsky earned a doubles win at the No. 3 position, 8-2.

Wake Forest at Texas A&M (Saturday night)

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