ASHEVILLE, NC – The Winthrop men's and women's tennis teams won one more conference match as they beat UNC Asheville 6-1 and 7-0 respectively on Saturday at Asheville, NC.
With the win, the men improve to 7-10 (3-0) on the season, while the women are now 8-8 (3-1).
In men's action, the Eagles started behind as they lost the doubles point. The only win came with Guy Kubi and Nadav Ruppin as they defeated Nathan White and Nicolai Nonnenbroich 8-6.
Winthrop came back on singles play and captured all six matches. In the No. 1 singles match, Sergey Belov defeated Nonnenbroich 6-2, 6-1, while Ruppin beat Matt Waissen 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles match. In the No. 3 singles match, Diego Toledo defeated Adrien Langeard 6-4, 6-4, while Liran Levy came back from one set down to beat Jonas Brobeck 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 4 singles match. In the No. 5 singles match, Dejon Bivens defeated White 6-2, 6-2, while Kubi beat Thomas Rees 7-5, 4-6, 10-8, in the No. 6 singles match.
“The guys came back strong in singles after losing the doubles point,” head coach Cid Carvalho said. “I felt that UNC Asheville played very well the match, and our guys had to raise the level of their play to win their singles matches.”
In women's action, the Lady Eagles started ahead on the scoreboard as they won all three doubles matches. In the No. 1 doubles match, Yasmine Alkema and Elizaveta Zaytseva beat Leslie Smith and Stephanie Schon 8-2, while Sandra Herrera and Giovanna Portiolli defeated Louise Bottomley and Devon Cavanaugh 8-2 in the No. 2 doubles match. In the No. 3 doubles, Lisa Wilkinson and Sara Abutovic beat Nicole Schon and Britney Cloer 8-1.
In singles play, Winthrop continued strong as it captured all six matches. In the No. 1 singles match, Alkema beat Smith 6-2, 6-0, while Zaytseva defeated Stephanie Schon 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 2 singles match. In the No. 3 singles match, Herrera beat Cavanaugh 6-2, 6-1, while Portiolli defeated Cloer 6-3, 6-0 in the No. 4 singles match. In the No. 5 singles match, Wilkinson beat Nicole Schon 6-1, 6-0, while Abutovic defeated Bottomley 7-5, 4-6, 10-2 in the No. 6 singles match.
“The girls continue to play well,” Carvalho said. “After winning the doubles point, they continued playing strong in singles, winning all singles and defeating a good UNC Asheville team 7-0.”
The women's team will be back in action at 4 p.m. Tuesday as it faces East Tennessee State at the Memorial Courts. Both teams will travel to Radford on Friday to face Radford at 2 p.m. for a conference match.
