ELON, N.C. – Senior
Christi Woodson clinched the match in three sets on court one to lift the College of Charleston women's tennis team to a 4-3 victory over Colonial Athletic Association rivals Elon on Sunday afternoon, the first victory over the Phoenix since 2015. The win gives Woodson six straight victories in court one action, improving the Cougars record over CAA opponents to 3-1 this season, 12-9 overall.
The Cougars opened the days play with senior duo
Sarah Zschunke and
Turner Yates powering to a 6-1 victory in flight three doubles, the tandem hitting 10 wins on the season when teaming up on court three.
The Phoenix leveled up with a 6-4 win over
Lily LaBiche and
Clara Errard on court two, Woodson and
Anastasia Palaska clinching the vital doubles point with a tie-breaking 7-6 (9-7), win on court one, the pair battling back when down in the tie-breaker to win it and put The College on top 1-0 heading into singles play.
Yates picked up her 13
th singles victory of the season in a swift 6-4, 6-3 win on court five, Elon battling back with wins on courts three and six to level the match at 2-2.
On court four LaBiche made it eight straight singles wins to improve to 9-1 over her last 10 matches. The freshman going to three sets in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1, victory, Elon once again leveling the match at 3-3 with a three sets win over
Eva Nyikos on court two.
Woodson was last to finish in a two and a half hour, three sets, match on court one. The senior from Melbourne, Fla., taking the first set 6-4, dropping the second 4-6, bouncing back with a 7-5 third to clinch the 4-3 win for The College and improve the record over CAA opponents to 3-1 heading into the final week of the regular season.
The Cougars are back in action tomorrow when they host Tulane in the lowcountry. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at Patriots Point with live stats available at CofCStats.com.
Quotable – Head Coach Angelo Anastopoulo
"Elon gave us everything that we could handle and a little bit more but in the end with a little bit of luck, we were able to pull out the victory and be on the right side of a 4-3 match against the Phoenix… A real credit to
Christi Woodson in her performances in doubles and singles, being down match point in the deciding doubles match, her and
Anastasia Palaska coming back to win it… Then playing a grueling two and half hours singles match to clinch it for us is a real testament to her heart and leadership for this program… Again our doubles continues to improve and we're still seeking complete performances from every position [in singles]…We've got a quick turnover to host a talented Tulane team tomorrow at 1 p.m so it'll be a challenge for our girls to recover and we're interested to see how they respond after this road trip."
Results
Doubles
Woodson/Palaska (CofC) def. Koniaev/Paraja (ELON), 7-6 (9-7)
Nayar/Shiau (ELON) def. Errard/LaBiche (CofC), 6-4
Zschunke/Yates (CofC) def. Zenoni/Archer (ELON), 6-1
Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
Woodson (CofC) def. Zenoni (ELON), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Paraja (ELON) def. Nyikos (CofC), 3-6 6-0, 6-2
Archer (ELON) def. Palaska (CofC), 2-6, 1-6
LaBiche (CofC) def. Nayar (ELON), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
Yates (CofC) def. Koniaev (ELON), 6-4, 6-3
Shiau (ELON) def. Errard (CofC), 6-7, 0-6
Finish: 3, 5, 6, 4, 2, 1
