Women's Tennis Falls in Opener on the Road
1/28/2012 9:54:00 PM | Women's Tennis
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Georgia Southern Women’s Tennis team was unable to start their season in the win column as they fell to Charleston Southern 1-6 on Saturday. However, Paola Garrido (Vigo, Spain) did notch two wins on the day.
The Eagles began the match in doubles play, where they dropped the point despite a victory from the sophomore duo of Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen (Kennesaw, Ga.). They gutted out a victory at No. 2 doubles by defeating their opponents 8-7(6) in a tiebreaker for the match. However, the other two doubles teams were unable to secure wins.
“We got off to a slow start in singles and doubles and in a lot of cases we never recovered,” said Head Coach Amy Bonner. “Tomorrow we will have to be ready from the start. The momentum from the doubles point is so important and the team will be ready to redeem themselves tomorrow.”
Garrido also led the Eagles in singles play, recovering from dropping the first set to defeat two-time Big South Conference Player of the Year Olga Makhova. She pulled through at No. 1 singles in a ten-point match tiebreaker 1-6, 6-4, 10-6. The other Eagles fought hard but couldn’t add to Garrido’s victory. Junior Alexandra Langmo (Boca Raton, Fla.) almost forced a third set match tiebreaker but fell 6-2, 7-5 at No. 6 singles.
However, the young squad did benefit from gaining the experience of the season’s first match. “It’s good to have a match under our belts so we can play with more confidence tomorrow against Coastal,” added Bonner.
The Eagles return to the courts on Sunday when they visit the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at noon. Their first home match of the year is on February 18th at 10 a.m. when they host the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State.
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