BOZEMAN, Mont. - Southern Utah University women's tennis kept ahead of Montana State in the Big Sky Conference standings with a 4-3 victory in Bozeman on Monday. The result is the first conference road win for the T-Birds this season and keeps the team in fourth place in the conference with a 5-3 mark and 10-6 record overall on the year. The Bobcats drop to 5-11 in 2013 and remain in fifth place in the BSC with a 4-5 conference mark.
SUU picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take an early 1-0 lead after capturing the doubles point. Freshmen Veronika Rogova and Anastasiia Vasileva dispatched Montana State's Iva Parapunova and Liana Bates, 8-1 at No. 2, with Olya Kunz and Alex Ivanova securing the first point of the match with an 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles.
The trio of Kunz, Ivanova and Rogova later came back in singles to punctuate the match with wins at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Rogova rolled at No. 3 singles giving up only one game in a 6-0, 6-1 win over Parapunova to put the T-Birds up 2-0.
The Bobcats took their first point with a win at No. 4 singles, but Ivanova and Kunz came back with three-set wins at No. 2 and No. 1 singles for the win. Ivanova bounced back from a 2-6 loss in the first set to post back-to-back winning frames 6-2, 6-1 for her win over Paulina Lopez at No. 2 singles. The finish extended the junior's winning streak to doubles digits, ten, and kept her conference record at a perfect 8-0.
Kunz won her first set 6-4, lost the second by the same total 4-6, and then closed out the match 6-3 at No. 1 singles over MSU's Char Hjalmarsson.
Montana State logged their final points with wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, leading to the final 4-3 outcome for the T-Birds.
Southern Utah will return to the courts tomorrow afternoon with a match at the University of Montana.
Tennis Match Results
Southern Utah University vs Montana State
Apr 15, 2013 at Bozeman, Mont.
(Anderson Tennis Center)
Southern Utah University 4, Montana State 3
Singles competition
1. KUNZ, Olya (SUU) def. HJALMARSSON, Char (MSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
2. IVANOVA, Aleksandra (SUU) def. LOPEZ, Paulina (MSU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. ROGOVA, Veronika (SUU) def. PARAPUNOVA, Iva (MSU) 6-0, 6-1
4. CRUM, Ellie (MSU) def. SKARAS, Madeline (SUU) 6-4, 6-1
5. TSAN, Wena (MSU) def. VASILEVA, Anastasiia (SUU) 7-5, 6-1
6. BATES, Liana (MSU) def. STAHELI, Afton (SUU) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. KUNZ, Olya/IVANOVA, Aleksandra (SUU) def. HJALMARSSON, Char/LOPEZ, Paulina (MSU) 8-3
2. ROGOVA, Veronika/VASILEVA, Anastasiia (SUU) def. PARAPUNOVA, Iva/BATES, Liana (MSU) 8-1
3. CRUM, Ellie/TSAN, Wena (MSU) def. SKARAS, Madeline/STAHELI, Afton (SUU) 8-4
Match Notes:
Southern Utah University 10-6, 5-3
Montana State 5-11, 4-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,2,1,6,5)
