In one of the most dominant performances in NCAA Championship history, the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears captured…
Appalachian State Women’s Tennis Season Ends in Sun Belt Quarterfinals
App State finished its season in the quarterfinals Sun Belt Women’s Tennis Tournament on Friday with a 4-3 loss to Georgia Southern.
The fifth-seeded Mountaineers (13-8) mounted an early 3-0 lead against the fourth-seeded Eagles (19-5) following a day-and-a-half of weather delays at the Peachtree City Tennis Center. But Georgia Southern’s four straight singles wins sent it to the semifinals in heartbreaking fashion for Ashleigh Antal’s App State squad.
App State won the doubles point with wins on court one by Savannah Dada-Mascoll and Ellie Murphy (6-3) and on court two by Helena Jansen and Erika Dodridge (6-4).
Dodridge made it 2-0 for App State for the first singles result of the day on court four. After winning the first set 6-3, the Eagles’ Lindsay Tulenko retired early in the second set.
The next to finish was Olwyn Ryan-Bovey. Her dominating 6-3, 6-2 win over Paula Hijos on court six extended the Mountaineers’ lead to 3-0.
Georgia Southern’s four straight singles wins ensued, with Nanaka Kijima defeating Maggie Pate (7-5, 6-3) on court three, Ana Tsitavets defeating Dada-Mascoll (6-3, 4-6, 6-0) on court two, Ninon Martinache defeating Virginia Poggi (6-7, 7-6, 6-0) on court five, and Silvia Martinez defeating Jansen (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) on court one.
App State’s 13-8 record is its best since 2019. This was the second time in program history that the Mountaineers advanced to the Sun Belt quarterfinals.