Alabama Women's Doubles Teams Shine in Regionals
10/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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The University of Alabama women's tennis team posted an incredible doubles performance at day two of the ITA South Regionals in Athens, Ga. Saturday, with three tandems notching a combined 5-0 record on the day.
To highlight the sparkling doubles performances, the sophomore duo of Melissa Minor and Nathalie Koppelle rallied from a 7-3 deficit to upset the No. 3 seeded pair from Georgia Tech, Kelly Anderson and Sekita Grant, 9-8.
"They just started chipping away and were able to neutralize Georgia Tech's weapons," Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz said. "We started hitting deep lobs and ended up playing the big points bigger than they did."
Koppelle and Minor downed a South Florida duo in the morning match, 8-5 to set up the upset. In other Tide doubles matches Robin Stephenson and Ashley Bentley teamed for Alabama to beat a Miami tandem in the first round and downed Florida State's Anca Dumitrescu and Roxanne Clarke, 9-7 in the second round.
Freshmen Mari Muller and Sonja Nikolic advanced by default in the first round of B-doubles, and won their second round match over UAB.
In singles, Robin Stephenson moved into the third round of the main draw today with a win over Miami's Natalie Mikalich while Muller moved to the quarterfinals of the B-draw with a win over Stetson's Marina Levin. In other singles matches, Melissa Minor fell to Florida's Boglarka Berecz, Koppelle lost to Christina Denny of Florida State and Sonja Nikolic fell to Florida State's Alina Mihailescu.
Complete scores follow:
Singles
Christina Denny (FSU) d. Nathalie Koppelle (UA) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
Boglarka Berecz (UF) d. Melissa Minor (UA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-0
Robin Stephenson (UA) d. Natalie Mikalich (Miami) 6-2, 6-0
Sonja Nikolic (UA) d. Alina Mihailescu (FSU) 6-3, 6-2
Mari Muller (UA) d. Marina Levin (Stetson) 7-5, 7-5
Doubles
Ashley Bentley/Stephenson (UA) d. Toro/Banada (Miami) 8-3
Ashley Bentley/Stephenson (UA) d. Dumitrescu/Clarke (FSU) 9-7
Minor/Koppelle (UA) d. Taverna/Obando (USF) 8-5
Minor/Koppelle (UA) d. Anderson/Grant (Ga. Tech) 9-8
Muller/Nikolic (UA) d. Elsholz/Jansma (UAB) 8-6
