College of Charleston
UNCW
Women?s Tennis Falls to Wilmington in Championship Thriller
4/20/2014 11:25:00 PM | Women's Tennis
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The No. 2 seed College of Charleston women's tennis team fell to UNC Wilmington, 4-3 on Sunday evening in the final of the CAA Tennis Championship at the Millie West Tennis Facility in Williamsburg, Va.
The top-seeded Seahawks (17-3), who won their 11th straight match, earned an automatic berth to their first NCAA Women's Tennis Championship. The College (competing in its first CAA final after winning five straight Southern Conference titles) fell to 18-8 with the loss.
“I'm proud of the way we played today,” said CofC director of tennis Angelo Anastopoulo. “UNCW responded well after we won the doubles point to go on and win four out of six singles matches. For us, this conference will take some time to get used to. We lost a couple of SoCon finals as well in early years before we really figured it out. With that being said, I'm proud of our team and I'm very proud of our seniors. They leave having won three conference titles and having played in three NCAA Tournaments. They showed a lot of class in defeat today. Kelly Kambourelis, playing in her final match as a Cougar, put forth a performance worthy of any superlative. She did everything her body would allow her to do and I'm incredibly proud of the way she played.”
With the match tied at 3-3, the title came down to the No. 1 singles flight between UNCW's Angie Sekely, the CAA Player of the Year, and CofC's Kelly Kambourelis, a first-team All-CAA honoree. Sekely fought off several set points before taking the opening set 7-6 (7-1) in a tiebreaker. Kambourelis jumped out to a 3-1 advantage in the second set, but Sekely turned the tables by winning five consecutive games to earn a 6-3 victory.
CofC overcame an early deficit to claim the doubles point as well. UNCW's No. 3 duo of Kelly Cameron and Miller Hales remained unbeaten on the season by blanking Grace Baker and Brooke McAmis, 8-0. The Cougars then drew even on court one as Jenny Falcone and Katherine Schofield defeated Olga Blank and Christine Kharkevitch, 8-4. The point was decided at No. 2 when Kambourelis and Mara Argyriou held off Sekely and Alyssa Ritchie, 8-4.
The Cougars pushed their lead to 2-0 in singles when Argyriou beat CAA Rookie of the Year Annika Sillanpaa, 6-4, 6-1. However, UNCW battled back with victories in the next three matches. Blank earned a 6-2, 6-1 decision over McAmis at No. 2, Ritchie topped Samantha Maddox, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4, and Cameron outlasted Falcone, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 at No. 6. The Cougars tied the match at 3-3 after Schofield defeated Kharkevitch, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5, setting the stage for the drama at No. 1.
“Big congrats to the Seahawks,” said Anastopoulo. “They will represent the Colonial well and we'll certainly be pulling for them.”
#1 UNCW 4, #2 College of Charleston 3
2014 CAA WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP - Finals
Millie West Tennis Facility – Williamsburg, Va.
Singles
#1 Angie Sekely (UNCW) vs. Kelly Kambourelis (CofC), 7-6 (7-1), 6-3
#2 Olga Blank (UNCW) d. Brooke McAmis (CofC), 6-2, 6-1
#3 Mara Argyriou (CofC) d. Annika Sillanpaa (UNCW), 6-4, 6-1
#4 Alyssa Ritchie (UNCW) d. Samantha Maddox (CofC), 6-4, 6-1
#5 Katherine Schofield (CofC) d. Christine Kharkevitch (UNCW), 6-4, 6-4
#6 Kelly Cameron (UNCW) d. Jenny Falcone (CofC), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 4, 6, 5, 1
Doubles
#1 Falcone/Schofield (CofC) d. Blank/Kharkevitch (UNCW), 8-4
#2 Kambourelis/Argyriou (CofC) d. Sekely/Ritchie (UNCW), 8-4
#3 Cameron/Miller Hales (UNCW) d. Grace Baker/McAmis (CofC), 8-0
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Players Mentioned
