Lady Pirates Earn 6th Straight PBC Women's Tennis Tournament Title
NORCROSS, Ga. - The Armstrong Atlantic State women's tennis team
survived a four and a half hour rain delay, a venue change and a
2-1 doubles deficit to come from behind and pick up its sixth
straight Peach Belt Conference women's tennis title with a 5-3
victory over Francis Marion on Sunday at the Racquet Club of the
South in Norcross, Ga.
The Lady Pirates (22-1), ranked third in NCAA Division II and the
top seed in the tournament, dropped two of three doubles matches to
the Patriots (18-4), ranked eighth in NCAA Division II. Four
singles wins, however, clinched the title for the Lady Pirates,
their 15th overall tournament title in the Peach Belt.
AASU picked up a doubles point behind the No. 2-ranked duo of
Martina Beckmann and Alida Muller-Wehlau as the duo knocked off
17th-ranked Kristyna Horakova and Jitka Gavdunova, 8-3, at No. 1
doubles. The Patriots, however, picked up a quick doubles point as
Saskia Ludwig and Valeska Ibscher defeated Kathleen Henry and Tina
Ronel, 8-1, at No. 3 doubles. The pivotal No. 2 doubles match went
the way of Tereza Sykorova and Sabina Baberadova, who knocked off
No. 7-ranked Gabriella Kovacs and Sona Novakova, 9-7, handing the
duo their first dual match loss of the season.
In singles play, the Lady Pirates picked up four singles wins to
clinch the match. Top-ranked Novakova beat 18th-ranked Sykorova,
6-2, 6-2, at No. 1 singles, while No. 16-ranked Muller-Wehlau
defeated No. 48-ranked Horakova, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 2 singles. FMU's
lone singles point came at No. 3 singles when Gavdunova upset No.
30-ranked Beckmann, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.
19th-ranked Kovacs beat Ibscher, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 4 singles, then
Henry won the clinching match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Ludwig at
No. 6 singles to claim the title.
Novakova was named the 2009 PBC Tournament singles MVP, while
Beckmann and Muller-Wehlau were honored as the tournament dobules
MVPs.
AASU will now begin the task of defending its NCAA DII National
Championship on May 7-8 in the NCAA Southeast Regional.
