Bama Women's Tennis Downs Marquette, 5-2
4/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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The No. 26 Alabama women’s tennis team scored a 5-2 non-conference victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles (4-15, 1-1 CUSA) Friday in preparation for their final Southeastern Conference regular season match against Auburn on Sunday.
Tide sophomore Nathalie Koppelle got her first singles win in more than a month with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 victory over Marquette’s Callan Smith at No. 3. Koppelle’s last win in singles came in late February over Rice’s Lauren Archer who was ranked 51st in the country.
“It was encouraging to see her (Koppelle) win,” said Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz. “She had been struggling, but she played well today.”
Koppelle also teamed with sophomore Robin Stephenson at No. 1 doubles and defeated Smith and Veronica Briseno, 8-2. Alabama Sophomores Ashley Bentley and Melissa Minor played No. 2 doubles and beat Genevieve Charron and Annabelle Espinosa, 8-2. It was the first time this season that Stephenson and Bentley had not played doubles together. The pair is the No. 19 (ITA) ranked doubles team in the country.
The Tide (11-8, 5-5 SEC) got singles wins from No. 44 Stephenson at No. 1, No. 71 Bentley at No. 2 and freshman Sonja Nikolic at No. 5. It was only the third career dual match for Nikolic, and her first at No. 5.
Alabama will travel to Auburn on Sunday at 1 p.m. and can clinch a share of the SEC Western Division Championship with a victory or an LSU loss to Arkansas.
Complete Match Results Follow:
#26 Alabama 5, Marquette 2
Doubles:
1. Stephenson/Koppelle (UA) d. Briseno/Smith (MU), 8-2
2. Bentley/Minor (UA) d. Charron/Espinosa (MU), 8-2
3. Marquette wins by default
Order of Finish: 1, 2
Singles:
1. #44 Robin Stephenson (UA) d. Veronica Briseno (MU), 6-1, 6-2
2. #71 Ashley Bentley (UA) d. Genevieve Charron (MU), 6-1, 6-2*
3. Nathalie Koppelle (UA) d. Callan Smith (MU), 6-1, 6-0
4. Annabelle Espinosa (MU) d. Melissa Minor (UA), 6-2, 7-6 (3)
5. Sonja Nikolic (UA) d. Dominika Dabrowski (MU), 6-4, 7-5
6. Marquette wins by default
*Clinched Match
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2, 5, 4
