Women's Tennis | 4/20/2017 8:07:00 PM

STATESBORO, Ga. – The first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament concluded this afternoon in dramatic fashion. The Eagles and Mountaineers faced off in the final match of the day and it did not disappoint. The Eagles would claim revenge in one of the most exciting matches this season.
 
"I am so proud of the fight we showed on the court today," Head coach Michele Stanford. "This match had a lot of ups and downs but our team continued to believe they would get the win. Giulia played an incredible match with a huge comeback to get the clinch. This is the match we needed to give our girls an extra boost in confidence before going into the rest of the tournament."
 
The match began late, due to an overlap of time between the first match of the morning and the Eagles match. During doubles play, the Eagles dropped the point being defeated on courts one and three, following the victory by Mariana Ranzahuer and Lindsay Truscott on court two. The Mountaineers would head into singles play with a 1-0 lead.
 
Emilia Bujan began the singles scoring winning a first set tiebreaker, as well as second set. Bujan defeated Gabrielle Wreder 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in straight sets to even the score at one a piece. Arianne de Winter quickly followed defeating her opponent in straight sets. Lindsay Truscott put the Eagles up 3-1 following her victory and first set tiebreak victory.
 
The Mountaineers answered back pulling the match back to 3-3, with the final match on court one heading to a third set. Senior Giulia Riepe was in the midst of a battle with Appalachian States Heidi Swope. Swope took the first set 7-6 (7-5) in the tiebreaker, putting the pressure on Riepe. Giulia was down 5-2 in the second set, battling back to win the second set 7-5. During the third set, it was all Giulia's game. She continued to put the pressure on Swope and would send the Eagles on to the next round.
 
The Eagles will now rest this evening, before turning around tomorrow afternoon to face off against the two seed South Alabama. The match will begin at 12:30 p.m. EST, at the City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center. The Blue and White faced the Jaguars during the first Sun Belt Pod Weekend of the year. The Eagles will be looking for revenge yet again as the Jaguars defeated the Eagles 6-1 in Statesboro.

SINGLES RESULTS:
 
Riepe def. Swope 6-7, 7-5, 6-2
De Winter def. Morse 6-2, 7-5
Bujan def. Wreder 7-6, 6-2
Truscott def. Machado 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
Bygrave def. Ranzahuer 7-6, 6-3
Mullen def. Monsey 6-4, 0-6, 6-4

DOUBLES RESULTS:
 
Mullen/Wreder def. De Winter/Riepe 7-5
Ranzahuer/Truscott def. Swope/Zupan 6-2
Bygrave/Machado def. Bujan/Monsey 7-5
 
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