SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Southern Utah University women's tennis opened the Big Sky Conference tournament with a 4-1 victory over Northern Colorado on Friday afternoon. The win puts the Thunderbirds in the semifinals and sets up a meeting with the No. 1 seed and host, Sacramento State.
SUU avenged an earlier loss to the Bears this season with the win as the T-Birds opened the match with 8-2 and 8-1 victories at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, respectively, securing the doubles point. The contest at No. 3 doubles wasn't finished with the point already in hand.
Veronika Rogova and Olya Kunz put the Thunderbirds within one point of the win with victories at No. 3 and No. 1 singles, respectively. Rogova dispatched UNC's Stephanie Catlin 6-1, 6-2 and was followed by Kunz' 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jennifer Buchanan.
Northern Colorado logged their only point on the match when No. 6 singles wrapped up with the Bears' Hillary Walters-West posting a 6-4, 6-1 win over Afton Staheli. Alex Ivanova punctuated the match in the Thunderbirds' favor with her 13th consecutive victory of the season, a 6-1, 6-4 result over Northern Colorado's Elizabeth Tapia at No. 2 singles.
The matches at No. 4 and No. 5 singles did not finish as Southern Utah had already won four points to win the match.
Southern Utah will now meet Sacramento State at 3:00 p.m. (MT) on Saturday afternoon.
Tennis Match Results
Southern Utah vs Northern Colorado
Apr 26, 2013 at Sacramento, Calif.
(Gold River Raquet Club)
Southern Utah 4, Northern Colorado 1
Singles Competition
1. KUNZ, Olya (SUU) def. BUCHANAN, Jennifer (UNC) 6-2, 6-4
2. IVANOVA, Alex (SUU) def. TAPIA, Elizabeth (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
3. ROGOVA, Veronika (SUU) def. CATLIN, Stephanie (UNC) 6-1, 6-2
4. SKARAS, Madeline (SUU) vs UHLE, Claire (UNC) unfinished
5. VASILEVA, Anastasiia (SUU) vs HOOLAHAN, Chrissie (UNC) unfinished
6. WALTERS-WEST, Hillary (UNC) def. STAHELI, Afton (SUU) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles Competition
1. KUNZ, Olya/IVANOVA, Alex (SUU) def. CATLIN, Stephanie/TAPIA, Elizabeth 8-2
2. ROGOVA, Veronika/VASILEVA, Anastasiia (SUU) def. UHLE, Claire/HOOLAHAN (UNC) 8-1
3. STAHELI, Afton/SKARAS, Madeline (SUU) vs BUCHANAN, Jennifer/WALTERS-WEST, Hillary (UNC) unfinished
