Alabama
Auburn
Alabama Women's Tennis Earns 4-3 Win at Auburn
4/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 17, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 73 women's tennis team (10-11, 3-8 SEC) held on for a 4-3 triumph over in-state rival No. 52 Auburn (9-10, 3-8 SEC) Saturday night at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. The Crimson Tide won the doubles point, but the match came down to the last singles contest, with freshman Antonia Foehse delivering the clinching win.
"We had a battle tonight," head coach Jenny Mainz said. "I want to credit Auburn though. Their seniors stepped up big tonight playing very convincing tennis. I was impressed by their performances. For us, it was a total team effort."
Alabama took the doubles point by winning the matches on court one and court three. Auburn grabbed the match on court two easily, as senior Fani Chifchieva and senior Jil Hastenrath breezed past senior Alice Tunaru and Foehse 8-1. The Tide answered back at the No. 3 spot. Senior Paulina Bigos and junior Meritt Emery were too much for freshman pair Plamena Kurteva and Caroline Thornton, knocking off the Tiger duo 8-2.
The point came down to the battle of ranked pairs at the No. 1 position. The No. 17-ranked tandem of freshman Alexa Guarachi and sophomore Courtney McLane were up by a slim margin, 5-4, over No. 79 senior Myrthe Molenveld and freshman Paulina Schippers. Guarachi and McLane picked up their level of play from there, winning the match 8-5 to clinch the doubles point.
Guarachi, ranked No. 60 in the nation in singles, gave Alabama a 2-0 lead when she cruised by sophomore Daniela Vukadinovic 6-3, 6-2 on court two. She raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first and held on, and then took the same lead in the second before claiming the victory. Auburn collected its first point of the match when Hastenrath defeated Bigos 7-5, 6-1 on court five. Hastenrath fell behind 5-0 in the first set, but only dropped one game the rest of the match to steal the win.
The Tigers evened the score at 2-2 thanks to Molenveld at the No. 3 spot, who battled past Emery 6-4, 6-2. Emery held a 4-3 lead in the opening set, but could not make the lead stand. Molenveld used that momentum to win the second set easily. The Auburn run continued when No. 47 Chifchieva won over McLane on court one 6-2, 6-4. Chifchieva had little trouble winning the opening set, but McLane hung tough in the second. Chifchieva eventually went ahead 5-3 in the second and extinguished any thought of a comeback by McLane.
The Tide evened the score at 3-3 when the match at the No. 6 position was completed. Tunaru and Schippers were tied at 2-2 in the first, but Tunaru took the final four games to win the set. She fell behind early in the second set to Schippers, but fought back to take the match.
Foehse and Thornton were doing battle on court four, with the winner clinching the dual win for her respective team. Thornton jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but could only manage to earn another game in losing the first set 6-4. Foehse claimed an early break in the second for a 2-0 lead, eventually stretching the lead out to 5-3. She wasted little time in finishing off the match against Thornton, winning the next game for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
"Alice (Tunaru) did a great job taking care of business and finishing," Mainz added. "We needed her to do that to put us in a position to win. Antonia (Foehse) was clutch. She had a gutsy performance tonight. She was so resilient and kept her composure the entire time. We needed this win going into the SEC Championship."
Next up, Alabama heads to Athens, Ga., for the 2010 SEC Women's Tennis Championships beginning Thursday, April 22. The No. 9-seed Tide will take on No. 8-seed LSU at 9:00 a.m. (CST).
RESULTS
Doubles
1. No. 17 McLane/Guarachi (UA) def. No. 79 Molenveld/Schippers (AU) 8-5
2. Chifchieva/Hastenrath (AU) def. Tunaru/Foehse (UA) 8-1
3. Bigos/Emery (UA) def. Kurteva/Thornton (AU) 8-2
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
Singles
1. No. 47 Fani Chifchieva (AU) def. Courtney McLane (UA) 6-2, 6-4
2. No. 60 Alexa Guarachi (UA) def. Daniela Vukadinovic (AU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Myrthe Molenveld (AU) def. Meritt Emery (UA) 6-4, 6-2
4. Antonia Foehse (UA) def. Caroline Thornton (AU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Jil Hastenrath (AU) def. Paulina Bigos (UA) 7-5, 6-1
6. Alice Tunaru (UA) def. Paulina Schippers (AU) 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: 2,5,3,1,6,4*
Players Mentioned
