UTC Women Tennis Wins 4-3 Over Visiting ETSU

Saturday, March 3, 2018

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's tennis team scored a 4-3 win over ETSU in the first Southern Conference match of the spring for both teams today. UTC trailed 3-0 before running off four-straight wins in singles at the Baylor School.

UTC entered the afternoon on a three-match slide, also having lost four in a row in the series against the Bucs. It didn't look good most of the day for UTC, who dropped the doubles point and the first two singles matches.

Junior Tamri Chalaganidze was down 3-0 in the first set of her No.

4 match to Melissa Esguerra. She fought back to force a tiebreaker, which she won 7-5. That momentum swing kept the Mocs' hopes alive and sparked their rally.

By keeping ETSU from getting the clinching fourth point, junior Caroline Hall and freshman Emma Van Hee were able to score wins with the team result still open. Hall defeated Pascaul-Larrinaga (6-1, 6-2) at No. 3, followed by Van Hee over Yi Chi Ma (6-3, 6-4) at No. 5. It was Van Hee's seventh win in a row as she improved to 6-0 in the spring.

Senior Samantha Caswell was in a battle at No. 1 against Ioanna Markensini. Markesini has held a national ranking in her career, but it was Caswell won ran out to the early lead. Markesini battled back to force a third set, but Caswell held on to win in a tiebreaker [6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (2)].

That put the focus back on the Chalaganidze-Esquerra match at No. 4. The Mocs won with Chalaganidze taking the match is straight sets (7-6 (5), 6-4).

"This team has had a lot of ups and downs this season, but they really came together today," stated second-year head coach Chad Camper. "We saw leadership from everyone. Tamri's win was big after being down 3-0 and Samantha did a great job against a phenomenal player."

The Mocs are back in action tomorrow, hosting Wofford at 12:00 p.m. at the Baylor School.

Chattanooga 4, ETSU 3
Mar 03, 2018 at Chattanooga, Tenn. (Baylor School)
Doubles competition
1. Samantha Caswell/Emma Van Hee (UTC) def. Alory Pereira/Ioanna Markesini (ETSU) 6-2
2. Yi Chi Ma/Melissa Esguerra (ETSU) def. Delaney Edwards/Bogdana Zaporozhets (UTC) 6-3
3. Alejandra Morales/A. Pascual-Larrinaga (ETSU) def. Caroline Hall/Annie Tarwater (UTC) 6-0

Singles competition
1. Samantha Caswell (UTC) def. Ioanna Markesini (ETSU) 6-1, 0-6, 7-6 (7-2)
2. Alory Pereira (ETSU) def. Delaney Edwards (UTC) 6-3, 6-3
3. Caroline Hall (UTC) def. A. Pascual-Larrinaga (ETSU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Tamri Chalaganidze (UTC) def. Melissa Esguerra (ETSU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
5. Emma Van Hee (UTC) def. Yi Chi Ma (ETSU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Alejandra Morales (ETSU) def. Bogdana Zaporozhets (UTC) 6-1, 6-3