CHARLESTON, S.C.  – Senior, junior, duo Christi Woodson and Anastasia Palaska helped lead the College of Charleston women's tennis team to a convincing 6-1 victory over Colonial Athletic Association rivals UNCW on Friday afternoon, to move The College to 3-3 on the season.

Woodson and Palaska teamed up in flight one doubles, setting the tone by taking down the Seahawks number one pair of Maddy Muller-Hughes and Sabrina Barisano in a comfortable 6-2 win. Senior duo Sarah Zschunke, returning from injury, and Turner Yates combined in flight three with a 6-2 victory to clinch the doubles point for Charleston with Eva Nyikos and Clara Errard's match unfinished at 5-5 on court two.

In singles play the Cougars stormed into an unassailable lead. Palaska got the Cougars rolling with a straight sets 6-1, 6-0, victory over Rishika Ravindran in flight two. Yates taking down Celeste Matute in flight four 6-2, 6-0, to move to 4-1 in singles action on the season.

In the number one spot Woodson went head-to-head with the Seahawks ace Muller-Hughes, who entered the match with a perfect 5-0 record in singles play. Charleston's senior took control early with a 6-3 first set - a 6-4 second set clinching the match for Charleston as they pushed into a 4-0 lead.

Sophomore Ava Turner, playing in her first match of the 2019 season, dropped the opening set to UNCW's Sarah Horn before battling back to a 7-6 victory in set two, winning the ten-point tiebreaker to move to 1-0 in the six spot on the year.
 
Catalina Medici took the opening set in flight five 6-4, before dropping the second 4-6. Medici won the ten-point tiebreaker to close out the match and give Charleston five singles victories on the day in a convincing 6-1 win.

Charleston now looks to a Monday matchup against in-city rivals Charleston Southern. Doubles play begins at 1 p.m. at Patriots Point with live stats available at CofCStats.com.


Quotable – Assistant Coach Robb Stone
"I thought we fought really hard today… We were down a couple players so it's always a bit of a challenge and the next person has to step up, everybody did that at one through six so it was a good team win… I thought everybody fought, even as we clinched the match at 4-0 the last three matches battled to the very end… It's kind of what our whole season needs to be about, we've got to win the fight and we did, we won the fight today."

Notables
• Charleston are 2-0 at Patriots Point in 2019.
• Charleston are 11-1 at Patriots Point against UNCW.
• The Cougars have now won five straight regular season contests against the Seahawks.
• Turner Yates moved to 4-1 in singles action on the season.
• Christi Woodson and Anastasia Palaska move to 2-2 in flight one doubles.

Results
Doubles
Woodson/Palaska (CofC) def. Muller-Hughes/Barisano (UNCW), 6-2
Nyikos/Errard (CofC) vs. Horn/Matute (UNCW), 5-5, Unfinished
Yates/Zschunke (CofC) def. Mathinsen/Dubois-Rebiere (UNCW), 6-2
 
Singles
Woodson (CofC) def. Muller-Hughes (UNCW), 6-2, 6-4
Palaska (CofC) def. Ravindran (UNCW), 6-1, 6-0
Dubois-Rebiere (UNCW) def. Errard (CofC), 7-6, 6-4
Yates (CofC) def. Matute (UNCW), 6-2, 6-0
Medici (CofC) def. Mathinsen (UNCW), 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (7)
Turner (CofC) def. Horn (UNCW), 2-6, 7-6, 1-0