By Travis G. Lyles '15
Communication Studies Major-Mass Media
MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Seniors
Sarah Moomau/Winchester and
Bethany Law/Ona, West Virginia, along with freshmen
Paloma Alatorre/Katy, Texas,
Anna Pelak/McLean and
Mason Thomas/Buchanan Dam, Texas each won in singles to lead Longwood University to its first women's tennis victory of the season, 8-1, at NCAA Division II member Chowan University on Sunday in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. The Lancers (1-2) swept all three doubles matches against the Hawks (4-4). Longwood will return to action when it hosts fellow Big South Conference member Liberty University on Wednesday, February 26 at 2 p.m. at the Lancer Courts in Farmville.
"Since we had just lost the original match scheduled for this weekend, and our next three matches were going to be against conference opponents, I was very happy that we were even able to find someone to play on such short notice, and Chowan was gracious enough to play us," said first-year head coach
Casey Wharton. "An added bonus was that today turned out to be a beautiful day for tennis. The temperature was perfect, but it was a bit windier than we have been used to thus far this season, which forced us to have to make some adjustments. I knew very little about Chowan before this weekend, but I can say that they are a very scrappy team, from top to bottom, and we had to mentally stay in every point in order to come out on top. But I give a lot of credit to our girls, for their discipline and focus. Because it wasn't always the prettiest points played, but we were determined to find a way to get it done, and that's exactly what we did. And as a coach, I love seeing that commitment in a match! Now we will turn our focus to get ready to host Liberty, and hopefully we can take the momentum from today and use it this Wednesday."
Alatorre defeated Breanne Johnson 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles spot to score the first point of the day for the Lancers. Moomau picked up her victory at No. 3 with a 7-6, (7-0), 6-1 win over Holly Stambaugh. Pelak defeated Jessica De Backre 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4. Thomas won at No. 5 against Natalie Andrade 6-0, 6-3, while Law defeated Straffai Cleveland at No. 6 6-1, 6-0 to finish out the sweep in singles. Junior
Malin Allgurin/Värnamo, Sweden fell at No. 1 singles to Natal Kamenshchikova 3-6, 2-6.
In doubles play, Allgurin and Moomau won at No. 1 against Kamenshchikova and Stambaugh, 8-4, Alatorre and Pelak defeated Andrade and Johnson, 8-2, at No. 2 and Law and Thomas picked up a victory against De Backre and Jennifer Humphrey at No. 3, 8-1.
Doubles
1. ALLGURIN, Malin/MOOMAU, Sarah (LONG) def. KAMENSHCHIKOVA,Natal/STAMBAUGH,Holly (CUWT) 8-4
2. ALATORRE, Paloma/PELAK, Anna (LONG) def. ANDRADE, Natalia/JOHNSON,Breanne (CUWT) 8-2
3. THOMAS, Mason/LAW, Bethany (LONG) def. DE BACKRE,Jessica/HUMPHREY,Jennifer (CUWT) 8-1
Singles
1. KAMENSHCHIKOVA,Natal (CUWT) def. ALLGURIN, Malin (LONG) 6-3, 6-2
2. ALATORRE, Paloma (LONG) def. JOHNSON,Breanne (CUWT) 6-4, 6-3
3. MOOMAU, Sarah (LONG) def. STAMBAUGH,Holly (CUWT) 7-6, 7-0, 6-1
4. PELAK, Anna (LONG) def. DE BACKRE,Jessica (CUWT) 6-0, 6-2
5. THOMAS, Mason (LONG) def. ANDRADE, Natalia (CUWT) 6-0, 6-3
6. LAW, Bethany (LONG) def. CLEVELAND,Straffai (CUWT) 6-1, 6-0
