CEDAR CITY, Utah - Southern Utah University women's tennis had a strong showing from the middle of its lineup to post a 5-2 victory over Eastern Washington on Wednesday afternoon. The win improves the Thunderbirds' record to 7-5 on the year and 2-2 in conference play.
SUU opened the match by winning the doubles point with an 8-4 win at No. 3 from Afton Staheli and Madeline Skaras and an 8-2 win at No. 2 from Veronika Rogova and Anastasiia Vasileva. The Thunderbirds narrowly missed a clean sweep at doubles as the No. 1 team of Olya Kunz and Alex Ivanova led 5-4 and 7-6, but ultimately fell in a tiebreaker, 7-4, to lose the match 8-7.
Eastern Washington tied the contest and then took a 2-1 lead with victories at No. 6 and No. 1 singles. However, Southern Utah answered and picked up straight-set victories at No. 4 singles - a 6-1, 6-4 win by Skaras - and at No. 2 singles - a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) win by Ivanova.
Rogova bounced back from a 6-1 defeat in her first set against EWU's Chelsea Patton to claim the second set 7-6 (7-3) in the tiebreaker and then captured the decisive victory by winning 6-1 in the third set.
Vasileva also stretched her match to three sets after falling 6-3 in the first set to get the win 6-4, 6-2.
Southern Utah will have a quick turnaround now for its next match, hosting Idaho State in another conference clash tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
Tennis Match Results
Eastern Washington vs Southern Utah University
3/27/2013 at Cedar City, Utah
(Thunderbird Tennis Courts)
Southern Utah University 5, Eastern Washington 2
Singles competition
1. HEDBERG, Moira (EWU) def. KUNZ, Olya (SUU) 6-4, 6-2
2. IVANOVA, Aleksandra (SUU) def. URIARTE, Chrissy (EWU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-4)
3. ROGOVA, Veronika (SUU) def. PATTON, Chelsea (EWU) 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
4. SKARAS, Madeline (SUU) def. KNIGHT, Kelsey (EWU) 6-1, 6-4
5. VASILEVA, Anastasiia (SUU) def. WARNER, Ryann (EWU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. FILLIOL, Alexis (EWU) def. STAHELI, Afton (SUU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. HEDBERG, Moira/URIARTE, Chrissy (EWU) def. KUNZ, Olya/IVANOVA, Aleksandra (SUU) 8-7 (7-4)
2. ROGOVA, Veronika/VASILEVA, Anastasiia (SUU) def. NORENA, Rocio/PATTON, Chelsea (EWU) 8-2
3. SKARAS, Madeline/STAHELI, Afton (SUU) def. KNIGHT, Kelsey/FILLIOL, Alexis (EWU) 8-4
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,1,4,2,3,5)
