STATESBORO - No. 74-ranked Georgia Southern women's tennis finished off its non-conference schedule on Sunday afternoon with a 5-2 win over Davidson at the Wallis Tennis Center.

The Eagles improved to 9-2 with the victory, while Davidson falls to 4-6. Georgia Southern will open up Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, March 11, traveling to Conway, S.C., to take on Coastal Carolina at 10 a.m.

Georgia Southern dropped all three doubles matches against the Wildcats as Davidson took a 1-0 lead in the match after doubles.

The Eagles won four of six of the first sets in singles, but the match was tied 2-2 after straight-set singles wins from Ana Tsitavets at No. 2 singles and Lindsay Tulenko at No. 3 singles for Georgia Southern, with Paula Hijos falling in straight sets at No. 6 singles.

Georgia Southern would take the remaining three singles matches in three sets, however, for the victory. Ninon Martinache notched a 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 win over Franny Shea at No. 5 singles, then Silvia Martinez stormed back from dropping her first set, 6-3, to take the final two sets by 6-3 scores in downing Josie Schaffer at No. 1 singles. Reigning PBC Player of the Week Nanaka Kijima then gutted out a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over Kavya Patel at No. 4 singles for the final margin.

The Eagles then completed the sweep by prevailing in all six singles matches. Tsitavets won a first-set tiebreak to defeat Katsiaryn Tuliakova, 7-6 (4), 6-0, at No. 1 singles, while Silvia Martinez overcame a first-set deficit to down Axelsson, 3-6, 6-0, (10-6) at No. 2 singles. Linsday Tulenko, Paula Hijos, Kijima and Sonja Keranen all notched straight-set victories as well for Georgia Southern.

"We have been doing pretty amazingly well in singles for the last few weeks," Georgia Southern Head Women's Tennis Coach Sean McCaffrey said. "I knew  that, despite dropping the doubles point, we still had a real good shot going into singles. Mostly because our team is pretty relentless. We figured out things early on in the first sets that gave us an advantage, and it worked how we expected it to. I'm quite pleased with the result today. We still have some things to work on going into our Sun Belt opener at Coastal Carolina thsi week, but we have time to clean some stuff up and make a couple of adjustments. I'm extremely happy of where we are at this point in the season. Even with our early season success, I really believe our best tennis is ahead of us."

Singles
Silvia Martinez (GS) def. Josie Schaffer (DAV) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Ana Tsitavets (GS) def. Emma Heiderscheit (DAV) 6-3, 6-4
Lindsay Tulenko (GS) def. Daniela Porges (DAV) 6-1, 6-4
Nanaka Kijima (GS) def. Kavya Patel (DAV) 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4
Ninon Martinache (GS) def. Franny Shea (DAV) 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
Savanna Kollack (DAV) def. Paula Hijos (GS) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles
Kavya Patel/Daniela Porges (DAV) def. Liv Ryan/Sophie Wagemaker (GS) 6-2
Emma Heiderscheit/Franny Shea (DAV) def. Sonja Keranen/Silvia Martinez (GS) 7-6 (1)
Savanna Kollack/Josie Schaffer (DAV) def. Ninon Martinache/Lindsay Tulenko (GS) 6-4