Seniors Lead Women?s Tennis to CAA Championship Match

Saturday, April 18

Williamsburg, Va.

10:00 AM

College of Charleston

Elon

Seniors Lead Women?s Tennis to CAA Championship Match

4/18/2015 7:31:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: CofCSports.com

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – No. 2 College of Charleston women's tennis finds itself with a ticket to the CAA Championship match for a second straight year after defeating Elon 4-1, on Saturday morning at the Millie West Tennis Facility in Williamsburg, Va.

“It was Senior Day Take II for us,” CofC Head Coach Angelo Anastopoulo said. “[Elon's] Coach Anderson has done a terrific job with her freshmen. It takes years to build up the mental and physical endurance to win a match like that. The only reason we won today is that we had a little more experience in that, as evidenced by the performance of our seniors.”

The Cougars' (14-12, 6-1 CAA) previously defeated the Phoenix (15-8, 2-2 CAA) in a close 4-3 regular season conference match just eight days earlier.

Charleston took an early 1-0 lead by clinching the doubles point for the ninth straight match. After Elon's duo Taylor Casey and Erica Braschi earned an 8-3 victory at the No. 3 doubles spot, the Cougars responded with consecutive wins at the top two spots. The 79^th-ranked tandem of senior Jenny Falcone and junior Katherine Schofield topped Kirsten Ward and Barbora Lazarova, 8-2, for their eighth straight No. 1 doubles win. For the second day in a row, senior Samantha Maddox and sophomore Mara Argyiou clinched the doubles point for the Cougars at the No. 2 spot, this time downing Olivia Lucas and Bridget Liddell, 8-3.

CofC's three seniors recorded wins in singles to give the Cougars their 10^th straight win. Falcone struggled early on court five, needing a tiebreak to defeat Casey in the first set 7-6(1). She then cruised to a 6-1 victory in the second set to boost Charleston's lead to 2-0 and cement her eighth consecutive singles victory.

After Elon's Lazarova put the Phoenix on the board with a win at No. 3 singles, CofC senior Grace Baker completed a three-set win over Kamilla Beisenova on court six. After falling 6-4 in the first set, Baker bounced back to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-3. Just as she had in doubles, Maddox clinched the match for the Cougars with a three-set victory at the top spot over Ward. Maddox, an all-CAA second-team selection, is now 11-14 on the season, with eight of her wins coming as CofC's top singles player.

“Every person was so important to today's victory that it was really a team effort. Brooke [McAmis] went further in a match today than she has all season and she really looked like she could pull it out in three,” he said of CofC's second seed, who has battled injuries throughout the season. “Our three seniors are as close a senior class as we've ever had.”

CofC's trio of seniors are two-time Southern Conference champions and will lead the team into the CAA Championship match for the second straight year.

The Cougars face top-seeded William & Mary (15-6, 3-1 CAA) on Sunday morning at 10 am. The Tribe are ranked 56^th in the nation and have the advantage of playing on their home courts. William & Mary swept Delaware and JMU to advance to the final match. This will be the second time CofC meets W&M, having lost 7-0 on Feb. 22, playing on indoor courts in Williamsburg.

“They beat us about as bad as anyone has beat us this year,” Anastopoulo said. “We got a whoopin' from them. So I can tell my team that the only way we can go is up! We're going to go out and play loose and have a ball with it. They've already exceeded my expectations this year.”