Bama Women's Tennis Doubles Continue to Roll
10/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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Two University of Alabama women's tennis doubles teams advanced to the semifinals of the A-draw at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association South Regionals in Athens, Ga. Sunday.
In one half of the bracket, Melissa Minor teamed with Nathalie Koppelle to beat Florida State's Christina Denny and Mihaela Moldovan 9-8, while in the other half, Robin Stephenson and Ashley Bentley downed Georgia Tech's Lindsey Shosho and Maria Nieto 8-6.
"Those doubles wins are huge for us," Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz said. "This is big step for us because we haven't been in this situation since I've been here."
Bentley and Stephenson's win is made more remarkable by the fact that Stephenson came into the match after a three-set singles match that lasted over three hours and that Bentley is playing in her first tournament of the year.
"Robin didn't even know if she was going to be able to play doubles," Mainz said. "She was pretty spent after her singles match. When they went into doubles Bentley had to hold it together and she did excellent job."
The semifinal and final rounds both take place tomorrow in Athens.
Complete UA results follow
Singles
No. 3 seend Anca Dumitrescu (FSU) d. Robin Stephenson (UA) 6-7, 7-6, 7-5
Mari Muller (UA) d. No. 1 seed Fabian Taverna (S. Fla) 6-3, 6-4
Audrey Banada (Miami) d. Mari Muller (UA) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
Minor/ Koppelle (UA) 9-8 (1) d. Christina Denny/Mihaela Moldovan (FSU)
Stephenson/Bentley (UA) d. Lindsey Shosho/Maria Nieto (Ga. Tech) 8-6
Brittney Serret/Hayley Rudman (MSU) d. Sonja Nikolic/Muller (UA) 8-4
