Women’s Tennis Beats Presbyterian in Season Opener
1/27/2013 10:34:16 PM | Women's Tennis
VIDEO: Post-win interview with Coach Amy Bonner
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern Women’s Tennis team (1-0) won all three doubles matches and five out of the six singles matches en route to beating Presbyterian College (0-2) 6-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Hanner Tennis Complex. All matches but one were determined in straight sets.
“I’m proud of the way our girls competed today,” said Head Coach Amy Bonner. “It is great to start off our spring season with a win.”
The Eagle started their season off right with a dominating performance in doubles. Freshman-senior duo Stephanie Woods (John's Creek, Ga.) and Natalie Maffett (Rome, Ga.) breezed through their match at the number two spot, beating Presbyterian’s Haley Elliott and Patricia Alves 8-1. Juniors Paola Garrido (Vigo, Spain) and Caitlin Kitchen (Kennesaw, Ga.) teamed up at the number one spot to beat Greer Randsom and Lindsay Krause 8-5. Last to finish were Jordana Klein (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Alexis Prickett (Charleston, S.C.). The duo beat Kayla Stanford and Caroline DeLoach 8-6 at the number three.
The doubles momentum carried over into the singles matches as freshman Francisca Norregaard (Vedbeak, Denmark) quickly saw herself serving for the match, beating her opponent Elliot 6-0, 6-2 at the number six position.
“I was very impressed with Francisca. She arrived two weeks ago from Denmark and came out today and played really well,” said Bonner.
Woods continued her strong play and beat Krause 6-1, 6-2 at number four. Maffett followed her doubles partner and clinched the match for the Eagles with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win over Lucia Leahy at the number five spot, losing only two games total throughout the day.
“Natalie really stepped up today with leadership. She came out firing and played a great match,” said Bonner.
Garrido won her first match of the year at number one, beating Greer 6-1, 6-2. After a back and forth battle in the second set, sophomore transfer Klein came out on top in her match on court number two, taking it home 6-0, 6-2.
Freshman Mary Phillips Smith (Tallahassee, Fla.) rounded up the score after an extremely tight match at the number three. After winning her first set 6-4 and dropping the second one with the same numbers, both players needed a tiebreaker to determine the last set, 1-0 in favor of DeLoach, and the final score of the day.
All three Georgia Southern freshmen made their first collegiate start, with two out of three earning their first win in blue and gold.
The Eagles return to competition next weekend in Alabama with a 9:30 a.m. match at UAB on Saturday, Feb. 2 and a Sunday, Feb. 3 1 p.m. match-up with Auburn.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new “Eagles GATA” mobile app for Android and iOS.
1. Paola Garrido (GSU) def. Greer Ransom (PC) 6-1, 6-2
2. Jordana Klein (GSU) def. Patricia Alves (PC) 6-0, 6-2
3. Caroline DeLoach (PC) def. Mary Phillips Smith (GSU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5)
4. Stephanie Woods (GSU) def. Lindsay Krause (PC) 6-1, 6-2
5. Matalie Maffett (GSU) def. Lucia Leahy (PC) 6-1, 6-0
6. Francisca Norregaard def. Haley Elliott (PC) 6-0, 6-2
1. Garrido/Kitchen (GSU) def. Ransom/Krause (PC) 8-5
2. Woods/Maffett (GSU) def. Alves/Elliott (PC) 8-1
3. Klein/Prickett (GSU) def. Stanford/DeLoach (PC) 8-6
