Championship streak lives on for women’s tennis
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 1:20AM By: David Thackham
thackhamd@mytjnow.com
Freshman Andressa Garcia screams in excitement after winning the clinching match in the Big South tournament Saturday. Senior Elizaveta Zaytseva and sophomore Giovanna Portioli run to celebrate as well. The lady Eagles beat Coastal Carolina 4-1. Photo by Tiffany Barkley barkleyt@mytjnow.comDespite dropping their first set in four matches, the Winthrop women's tennis team cruised to victory Saturday afternoon to capture its fourth straight Big South title as the Lady Eagles defeated Coastal Carolina 4-1 at the Memorial Courts to earn the NCAA Tournament automatic bid.
The Eagles had surrendered their first and only conference loss of the year to the Chanticleers less than three weeks earlier, but showed no sign of troubles in playoff action. The Big South Conference Title will now return to Rock Hill, where it has resided for nine of the past ten years. In its history, women’s tennis earned thirteen Big South Championships.
“I'm very proud of the girls,” head coach Cid Carvalho said. “They played a very tough match against a very tough Coastal Carolina team.”
Winthrop (ranked #75 in the country) began the day in dominating fashion in doubles action. The Eagles’ pairing of Sandra Herrera and Giovanna Portioli defeated Miki Bunea and Diana Mortlock 8-5. At the No. 3 position, Andressa Garcia and Elizaveta Zaytsevacame rallied from a 4-1 deficit to knock off Coastal’s Caitlyn Brooksbank and Kourtney Kowal 8-6 in a thrilling 14 set encounter.
The Lady Eagles continued their momentum through the singles round, needing only three matches to clinch the championship. In No. 1 singles, player of the year Yasmine Alkema defeated Lexi Bolesky 6-1, 6-1, as Herrera brought down Kowal 7-6, 6-0 in No. 3 singles. The clinching match came at No. 5 singles as the freshman Garcia fended off Mortlock 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“The match went right down to the wire,” Carvalho said. “I'm proud of the way we came out on top.”
The Lady Eagles will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 17-11 overall record. Winthrop head coach Cid Carvalho will now take a Winthrop women's team to the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in his coaching career.
Carvalho’s men’s side earned the #1 seed for the Big South conference championship, but their bid for a sixth title ended with a loss to 4-3 Radford in the championship match. The Eagles ended their season 16-6, with an undefeated conference schedule.
The Lady Eagles will learn its NCAA Tournament fate on May 3 when the tournament pairings will be released on NCAA.com. The selection show is set for 5 p.m.
