Cougars Fall 4-3 as St. John's Storms Back Late

Tuesday, February 20

Mt. Pleasant, SC

1:30 PM

College of Charleston

St. John's

Photo by: CofCSports.com

2/20/2018 6:21:00 PM | Women's Tennis

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Despite a promising start at Patriots Point on Tuesday, the College of Charleston women's tennis team (6-2) couldn't prevent a late comeback by the St. John's Red Storm (6-2), falling by a score of 4-3.

The College secured the doubles point for the early advantage, securing a pair of 6-2 wins in flights one and three. Anastasia Palaska, who won on court one alongside Christi Woodson, went on to win her flight four singles encounter 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, making her the only Cougar to win both her doubles and singles matches.

St. John's took their top-flight encounter in two sets, but Catalina Medici responded on court six with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Nina Marjanovic.

Though CofC controlled the 3-1 advantage, St. John's wouldn't go down without a fight. After capturing a first set tiebreak, Christi Woodson was overcome in three sets by Olaya Inclan Solis to make the match 3-2. Turner Yates meanwhile picked up a set two win on court five, but was defeated in a pair of tie breaks to Kajsa Stegrell, and that knotted things up at 3-3.

That left Rachel McNeely and Zofia Stanisz to duel things out on court three. McNeely captured victory in the opening set 6-2, but Stanisz rallied back with a pair of 7-5 wins to take the match. To her credit, McNeely went down fighting, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in set three to knot things up 5-5 before her opponent pulled away for the victory.

"It was an academy award winning performance by both teams, and it was very entertaining to behold," Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo said. "As a coach, I had the best seat in the house and I felt like I was just along for a very enjoyable ride. St, John's showed a lot of heart and character to come back like they did, and to do it in an outdoor environment that they're unaccustomed to."

The Cougars hit the road for the rest of the month, beginning with a trip to Spartanburg to face USC Upstate on Friday.

St. John's 4, CofC 3

SINGLES
Jessica Livianu (StJU) def. Helena Nyikos (CofC) ~ 6-0, 6-4
Olaya Inclan Solis (StJU) def. Christi Woodson (CofC) ~ 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3
Zofia Stanisz (StJU) def. Rachel McNeely (CofC) ~ 2-6, 7-5, 7-5
Anastasia Palaska (CofC) def. Jaide Collins (StJU) ~ 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Kajsa Stegrell (StJU) def. Turner Yates (CofC) ~ 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(5)
Catalina Medici (CofC) def. Nina Marjanovic (StJU) ~ 6-4, 6-0
Order of Finish: 1, 6, 4, 2, 5, 3*
DOUBLES
Palaska/Woodson (CofC) def. Collins/Stanisz (StJU) ~ 6-2
Preotescu/Inclan Solis (StJU) def. McNeely/Nyikos (CofC) ~ 6-4
Arciniegas/Yates (CofC) def. Marjanovic/Stegrell (StJU) ~ 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2