Box Score The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team posted a 5-2 win at Elon today. The Lady Mocs scored a big Southern Conference road victory behind strong singles play. UTC won the final five matches to come from behind.
With the win, Chattanooga improves to 3-4 overall and evens its league mark at 1-1. Elon falls to 4-6 on the year and 0-2 in SoCon action.
The Phoenix took the doubles point, grabbing the No. 1 and No. 3 matches to open the afternoon action. Sophomore Jenna Nurik (Roswell, Ga.) and junior Shaina Singh (Vancouver, B.C.) kept UTC from being shutout in doubles with their win at No. 2.
Elon's Bryn Khoury beat UTC junior Emily Hangstefer (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 to keep the pressure on Chattanooga. That win gave the Phoenix a 2-0 lead in the team score.
From that point on it was all Lady Mocs. Nurik put UTC on the board with her 6-4, 7-5 win over Jordan Johnston at No. 1. "Jenna played great in both singles and doubles today," stated head coach Jeff Clark. "She and Shaina Singh were very strong in doubles and Jenna beat a really good player in singles."
Freshman Alexa Flynn (Memphis, Tenn.) followed that up with a straight-set (7-6(4), 6-3) win at No. 2. It was Flynn's team-leading 11th singles victory of the year. She was trailing 4-0 in the first set and came back to force a tiebreak that she won 7-4. She is now 11-3 overall at 1-1 after moving up to No. 2 this weekend.
After winning the first set 6-0, senior Annie Green (Alpharetta, Ga.) was in a huge hole, trailing 5-0 in the second set. She battled her way back into the match, winning the next seven games to take the set 7-5. That gave the Lady Mocs their first lead of the day at 3-2. Green is 5-4 on the year after splitting her first singles action of the spring this weekend.
Singh dropped her first set 6-0 at No. 4, but forced a third set with a 6-4 win in the second frame. She was down a break 4-3 in the final set, but won the final three games to clinch the team win. Junior Charlotte Bossy (Koekelare, Belgium) rounded out the final score with a win at No. 5 (6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2).
"It was great battle today," added Clark. "I am proud of the team for fighting hard. We really dug in during the singles matches and played inspired tennis from top to bottom."
The Lady Mocs stay on the road for a March 2 match at Mercer. UTC returns home on Saturday, March 5 for a 1:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) match against Western Carolina. Live scoring will be available for the Catamount match on GoMocs.com.
Chattanooga 5, Elon 2
Feb 27, 2011 at Elon, N.C. (The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
1. Jordan Johnston-Viviana Stavreva (ELON) def. Alexa Flynn-Emily Hangstefer (UTC) - 8-4
2. Jenna Nurik-Shaina Singh (UTC) def. Frida Jansaker-Bryn Khoury (ELON) - 8-4
3. Andrea Pont Grau-Briana Berne (ELON) def. Charlotte Bossy-Annie Green (UTC) - 8-3
Singles competition
1. Jenna Nurik (UTC) def. Jordan Johnston (ELON) - 6-4, 7-5
2. Alexa Flynn (UTC) def. Frida Jansaker (ELON) - 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
3. Bryn Khoury (ELON) def. Emily Hangstefer (UTC) - 6-2, 6-2
4. Shaina Singh (UTC) def. Viviana Stavreva (ELON) - 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Charlotte Bossy (UTC) def. Briana Berne (ELON) - 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2
6. Annie Green (UTC) def. Jessica Margolis (ELON) - 6-0, 7-5
