The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s tennis team finished second in the Southern Conference after today’s 7-0 loss to Samford at the UTC Tennis Courts. Chattanooga dropped to 17-3 overall and 5-1 in SoCon action with this afternoon’s setback.
The Bulldogs won their first SoCon title with a 13-8 record, 7-0 in league matches. The second place finish for the Mocs is their best since finishing second in 2002. Both teams enjoyed a great atmosphere in front of a big crowd at the UTC Tennis Courts today.
“First of all, I just want to thank all of the people who came out to watch today,” stated UTC head coach Jeff Clark.
“It was a great atmosphere between two great teams.”
Chattanooga opened strong when junior Katie Polk and sophomore Rachele Gazzola defeated Savannah Wood and AnnMarie Lyon (8-2) at No. 3 doubles. UTC lost the next two matches to fall behind 1-0.
The Mocs could not get any traction in singles play, dropping the first set in four of the six matches. Junior Kayla Jones lost her second set in a tiebreaker to Stephanie N’tcha, despite a couple of match points. N’tcha went on to win the match in a third-set superbreaker.
Senior Claire Mulyadi was forced to retire in the second set after winning the first against Ivana Parapunova.
“Samford played great today,” added Clark. “At every position they played great. I hate it for Kayla. She had a couple of match points but her opponent came up really big. She played well enough to win, but was a little unlucky at the end.”
UTC is off to the SoCon Tournament next weekend at Furman in Greenville, S.C. UTC is the second seed and takes on No. 7 Western Carolina on Friday, April 24, at 1:00 p.m. (E.D.T.). Be sure to check the women’s tennis schedule page for a link to live scoring.
Samford 7, Chattanooga 0
Apr 18, 2015 at Chattanooga (UTC Tennis Courts)
Doubles competition
1. #82 Stephanie N'tcha/Carita Moolman (SAM) def. Kayla Jones/Samantha Caswell (UTC) 8-6
2. Yasmeen Ebada/Jessica Northcutt (SAM) def. Kelsey Coots/Kaylene Chadwell (UTC) 8-2
3. Rachele Gazzola/Katie Polk (UTC) def. Savannah Wood/AnnMarie Lyon (SAM) 8-2
Singles competition
1. Stephanie N'tcha (SAM) def. Kayla Jones (UTC) 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 1-0 (10-5)
2. Yasmeen Ebada (SAM) def. Kelsey Coots (UTC) 6-4, 6-1
3. Jessica Northcutt (SAM) def. Kaylene Chadwell (UTC) 6-2, 6-0
4. Carita Moolman (SAM) def. Samantha Caswell (UTC) 6-4, 6-2
5. Iva Parapunova (SAM) def. Claire Mulyadi (UTC) 7-6 (7-4), 2-2, retired
6. Savannah Wood (SAM) def. Alison Storie (UTC) 6-0, 6-2