COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Winthrop women's tennis team began its fall slate at the South Carolina Fall Invitational last weekend, and was led by senior Alisa Soloveva, who finished the event as the Gold singles champion on Saturday afternoon. They were joined in competition by the University of South Carolina (USC) and University of North Florida (UNF).
 
Soloveva took down Ana Paula Melilo (UNF) 7-6, 6-3 to open the tournament. She then advanced via walkover to South Carolina's top-seeded Silvia Chinellato. Soloveva opened with a 7-5 set win over Chinellato and was ahead 5-1 in the second when Chinellato retired the match. Soloveva faced second-seeded Megan Davies (USC) in the title match. Davies took the first set, 6-1, but Soloveva fought back to take the second set, 6-2. In lieu of a full third set, the two played a 10-point tiebreaker, going back-and-forth with Soloveva coming out on top 13-11 and taking the Gold title.
 
The Eagles also fared well in the Bronze Draw, with Winthrop's top-seeded freshman Samantha Nanere and fellow freshman Angela Georgieva each winning their side of the bracket to set up an all-Winthrop title match.

Nanere began with a first-round bye, before topping Kendall Couch (USC) in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Georgieva faced Florencia Rossi (UNF) in her first match, winning 6-0, 6-0, setting up a second-round match with Kendall Nash (USC).  Georgieva came out on fire, winning the first match 6-0, but then dropped the second set 4-6 before clinching the match 6-3 in the third set. Instead of playing each other in the title match, Nanere and Georgieva faced off with UNF's Florencia Rossi and Lea Grinberg, respectively, winning both matches for the Eagles.
 
Winthrop juniors Rafaela Santos and Tayla Van Eck also competed at the invite. Santos played in the Gold Draw, beginning with an opening round loss to Davies, before taking down Ana Luiza Cruz (USC) in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. In her final singles match, she battled Melilo in both sets, but fell 6-4, 6-3. Van Eck, competing in the Silver Draw, fell in straight sets to North Florida's Sean Lodzki in the opening round, and battled Constanza Gorches, also of North Florida, to three sets. Van Eck took the first set 6-4, but Gorches came back to take the final two, 6-2, 6-4, to advance.
 
In doubles action, both Eagles teams won their first matches over North Florida, with Soloveva and Santos teaming up to down UNF's Grinberg and Rossi, 6-0, and Georgieva and Van Eck beating Lodzki and Nash, 6-4. However, both Winthrop teams fell to South Carolina's doubles squads in the next two rounds, finishing out the doubles competition for the Eagles.