Women's Tennis: WVU Wins Season Opener
January 21, 2005 10:13 PM | General
January 21, 2005
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| Walsh |
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s tennis team opened the 2005 spring season with a 4-2 victory over future BIG EAST rival Cincinnati on Friday, Jan. 21, at the Huntington Tennis Club.
West Virginia (1-0) used a late victory from sophomore Kelly Walsh to clinch the match and avenge last year’s upset loss to the Bearcats. The Mountaineers swept the doubles category while winning three of five singles matches and leading in the fourth before the match was clinched.
Freshman Natalia Prinz defeated Cincinnati’s Cristina Reyes, 6-3, 6-1, in No. 1 singles while Walsh clinched the match with a thrilling, 6-5, 7-6, victory over Hannah Hinton in two seed action.
Freshman three seed Kathryn Gerber, who joined the team this month, fell in her collegiate debut to Jill Klauck by a score of 4-6, 5-6. Junior Raynie Theis also fell short in her bid to garner a point when she lost to Samantha Liu, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Freshman Stacey Percival was a winner in her first collegiate dual match after defeating Lindsay Brown, 6-3, 6-0. Sophomore Catherine Koontz, playing in her first spring match since 2002, led Cincinnati’s Julie Klauck, 6-3, 2-1, before the Mountaineers clinched the match with Walsh’s victory over Hinton.
In doubles play, Theis and Percival topped Reyes and Hinton, 8-5, while Prinz and Walsh downed Lui and Brown, 8-2. Gerber and sophomore Ashley Constantine completed the sweep after defeating Julie and Jill Klauck by an 8-6 margin.
“Considering the fact that this was the first match of the season, I thought our team played really well,” coach Dan Silverstein says. “They gave great effort and fought extremely hard. We won some tough matches today against a future BIG EAST opponent and avenged a loss from last year in the process.”
The Mountaineers are idle until Sunday, Jan. 30, when they hit the road to take on No. 28 William and Mary.
SINGLES
1. Natalia Prinz (WVU) d. Cristina Reyes (UC), 6-3, 6-1
2. Kelly Walsh (WVU) d. Hannah Hinton (UC), 6-5, 7-6
3. Jill Klauck (UC) d. Kathryn Gerber (WVU), 4-6, 5-6
4. Samantha Liu (UC) d. Raynie Theis (WVU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Stacey Percival (WVU) d. Lindsay Brown (UC), 6-3, 6-0
6. Catherine Koontz (WVU) led Julie Klauck (UC), 6-3, 2-1, ret.
DOUBLES
1. Theis/Percival (WVU) d. Reyes/Hinton (UC), 8-5
2. Prinz/Walsh (WVU) d. Lui/Brown (UC), 8-2
3. Gerber/Constantine (WVU) d. Klauck/Klauck (UC), 8-6
