College of Charleston
DePaul
Cougars Lose Close Match in Round One of NCAA Doubles Championships
5/27/2010 10:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
"It was a tough loss," said head coach Angelo Anastopoulo. "In order to win a first round match at the NCAA Championships, you have to be at your best and DePaul was certainly at their best. It was just a great collegiate tennis match."
The 37th-ranked duo defeated the 18th-ranked Blue Demons in the first set after Redecsi and Salkovic returned from a 6-4 deficit to force a tiebreak situation. Tied at four all in the tiebreak, Dowse hit two strong volleys to give the Cougars a 6-4 lead. DePaul faulted twice on serves to give Charleston match-point and a 1-0 lead.
The two teams started traded games in the second set. Superior net play by Hayman tied the second set at four games apiece before the Blue Demons amped up their offense to win the final two games, forcing the match to a third set.
Dowse's strong serve tied the third set at one game each, DePaul won the next three games to give the Blue Demons a 4-1 lead, the largest by either team in the match. CofC rebounded in the next game, play to reduce DePaul's lead to 4-2. The Blue Demons continued to improve throughout the match and eventually pulled out a 6-2 victory to move on to the second round.
Dowse and Hayman finish the 2010 season with a 17-7 record as College of Charleston's top doubles team. The "Thunder from Down Under" went 2-3 against nationally-ranked pairs, picking up wins over the 31st and 19th ranked teams. They are the first representatives from the Southern Conference to qualify for the NCAA Women's Tennis Doubles Championships.
Redecsi and Salkovic move on to face the overall No. 1 seed, Natalie Pluskota and Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee in the Round of 16 on Friday.
Players Mentioned
