MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's tennis enjoyed just about a perfect home-opener Tuesday, achieving two 7-0 shutouts over Spartanburg Methodist and USC Upstate to rise to 9-3 on the season.
The Cougars and Pioneers agreed to schedule a short-notice match, a decision that SMC likely soon-regretted. On a day when CofC's flight one star Liza Fieldsend was given time off, the Cougars employed an unorthodox lineup which absolutely devastated Spartanburg Methodist. In fact, the Pioneers failed to take a single game off the College, as all CofC sets ended in 6-0 shutouts across all flights. It was the epitome of a total victory.
In the evening, the Cougars drew the Spartans, who offered a greater degree of resistance. The Cougars won all three doubles matches, the most dominant of which was a 6-0 win by Brooke McAmis and Helena Nyikos in the third set over Anna Nemeth and Ruby Kubac.
The Cougars ran away with the match in singles play, with flights three, four, five and six all going decisively to the Cougars. That included Diana Colen pulled off a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Kubac in the sixth flight. Katherine Schofield had a closer match in flight one, holding on to beat Anna Zoske 6-3, 6-3.
Brooke McAmis played the one flight which almost went the way of the Spartans. McAmis started out strong enough with a 6-2 first set win over Filippa Ericson, but the USCU standout fired back to take the second set 6-3. The match required a tiebreak to decide, which McAmis narrowly secured by a 10-8 margin.
“It's a great day when you can get two victories in your first matches at home,” Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo said. “Brooke did a great job for us today. Even though she lost a set, she continued to get better. We've got a tough, tough Michigan State team coming up, and we're going to need to be at our best if we want to beat them.”
The Cougars will take Wednesday off before getting back to it with yet-another double-header Thursday, when they will host the Michigan State Spartans at 10 a.m. and the Illinois State Red Birds at 3:30 p.m.
Spartanburg Methodist 0, CofC 7
SINGLES
Katherine Schofield def. Taylor Edwards – 6-0, 6-0
Mara Argyriou def. Carlie Peeler – 6-0, 6-0
Helena Nyikos def. Ivey Crook – 6-0, 6-0
Sarah Jane Jones def. Brianna Rodriguez – 6-0, 6-0
Diana Colen def. Li Lee – 6-0, 6-0
Sarah Zschunke def. Tyi Richards – 6-0, 6-0
DOUBLES
Schofield/Argyriou def. Edwards/Lee – 6-0
Zschunke/Jones def. Peeler/Crook – 6-0
Nyikos/Colen def. Rodriguez/Richards – 6-0
USC Upstate 0, CofC 7
SINGLES
Katherine Schofield def. Anna Zoske – 6-3, 6-3
Brooke McAmis def. Filippa Ericson – 6-2, 3-6, 10-8
Mara Argyriou def. Vale Zarama – 6-1, 6-0
Helena Nyikos def. Carol Sigaki – 6-1, 6-2
Sarah Jane Jones def. Anna Nemeth – 6-0, 6-1
Diana Colen def. Ruby Kubac – 6-0, 6-0
DOUBLES
Argyriou/Schofield def. Ericson/Zoske – 6-1
Jones/Zschunke def. Sigaki/Zarama – 6-2
McAmis/Nyikos def. Kubac/Nemeth – 6-0
