The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team opened the 2013 spring season with an impressive 6-1 win over Kennesaw State at the Hixson Racquet Club tonight. The Lady Mocs took the first five points in the match to cruise to a non-conference victory over the visiting Owls.
Chattanooga opened by winning the doubles point. JuniorAlexa Flynn (Memphis, Tenn.) and freshman Katie Polk (Woodstock, Ga.) defeated Therese Lagerkvist and Isabela Castro (8-3) at No. 3. SeniorJenna Nurik (Roswell, Ga.) and sophomore Kaylene Chadwell (Franklin, Tenn.) had an 8-4 win over Jana Heckinghaus and Tamara Ploucher at No. 2. FreshmanKelsey Coots (Huntsville, Ala.) and Kayla Jones (Memphis, Tenn.) lost at No. 1 (8-6) to Alexandra Apostu and Virginia Stein.
UTC took control of the match quickly in singles play, only dropping 11 games in its first four wins. Coots won (6-1, 6-1) in straight sets over Lagerkvist at No. 5, followed by Jones' (6-2, 6-0) win over Plocher at No. 4. Sophomore Claire Mulyadi (Semarang, Indonesia) clinched the win with her (6-0, 6-4) win over Casto at No. 6.
Nurik had a big win at No. 1 in straight sets over Stein (6-2, 6-1). Chadwell had the lone setback in single, dropping a tight two-set match to Apostu (7-5, 6-4). Flynn battled back from a 6-1 first-set loss to win in three sets (1-6, 6-3, 6-4) over Heckinghaus.
"Jenna had a nice win to start the year and we played well all around," stated head coachJeff Clark. "It is always nice to start the season with a win, and we got a chance to see what we need to work on. There is a lot of tennis to play this season, so we hope to keep getting better each time out."
The Lady Mocs are back in action tomorrow, hosting Belmont at the Hixson Racquet Club at 2:00 p.m. (E.S.T.). Live scoring will again be available on the women's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.
Chattanooga 6, Kennesaw State 1
Doubles competition
1. Apostu, Alexandra/Stein, Virginie (KSU) def.Kelsey Coots/Kayla Jones (UTC) - 8-6
2. Kaylene Chadwell/Jenna Nurik (UTC) def. Hueckinghaus, Jana/Plocher, Tamara (KSU) - 8-4
3. Alexa Flynn/Katie Polk (UTC) def. Lagerkvist, Therese/Castro, Isabela (KSU) - 8-3
Singles competition
1.Jenna Nurik (UTC) def. Stein, Virginie (KSU) - 6-2, 6-1
2. Apostu, Alexandra (KSU) def. Kaylene Chadwell (UTC) - 7-5, 6-4
3. Alexa Flynn (UTC) def. Hueckinghaus, Jana (KSU) - 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Kayla Jones (UTC) def. Plocher, Tamara (KSU) - 6-2, 6-0
5. Kelsey Coots (UTC) def. Lagerkvist, Therese (KSU) - 6-1, 6-1
6. Claire Mulyadi (UTC) def. Castro, Isabela (KSU) - 6-0, 6-4