SALISBURY, Md. - The Salisbury University men's
and women's tennis teams dominated in their respective Capital
Athletic Conference tournament semifinal matches Thursday against
St. Mary's (Md.) College. The No. 22 Salisbury men's team won 8-1
while the women shut out the Seahawks, 9-0.
The Sea Gulls advance to the CAC championships this weekend.
Salisbury's women's team, the second-seed, will travel to
Fredericksburg, Va., on Saturday to face the top-seed University of
Mary Washington at 2 p.m. The Eagles, ranked No. 7 in the nation,
have won the last four conference titles. The last time SU won the
women's tennis title was in 2003. Salisbury's men's team, the
top-seed, will host second-seed Mary Washington on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Eagles have won the last eight conference titles and are ranked
No. 12 in the country. Salisbury last won a CAC title in 1999.
The SU men's team, ranked third in the Atlantic South region,
received a great performance from freshman Andrew
Nottage and sophomore Marcus Robinson at
No. 1 doubles. The duo earned their second win at first doubles
this season as they defeated SMC's Jeremy Butanis and Andrew
MacLaughlin, 8-2. Robinson's punishing spikes and Nottage's
consistent serving gave the Sea Gulls an early 4-0 lead. The team
played well together as Robinson's hard spike in the eighth point
won the match. At second doubles the team of freshman David
Lupinetti and junior Sasha Felkinson
breezed by the SMC team of Travis Horrom and Alex Djinis, 8-0.
Solid teamwork and ball placement pushed the team to victory. The
only loss of the day belonged to the No.3 doubles team of freshmen
Matt Copeland and Giorgio Athans.
The match was knotted at three apiece before Seahawks Tyler Smith
and Sam Barton pulled ahead to 3-6. SU won the next two points
before SMC closed out the 5-8 win.
In men's singles play the Sea Gulls took every match, not losing
a single set to St. Mary's. At No. 1 singles junior Matt
Nicholson played exceptional against Butanis. Nicholson's
tough serves, which hard for Butanis to return, and great
cross-court shots led to the 6-3, 6-1 win. Felkinson played well at
second singles against MacLaughlin as his great drop shots
and solid backhand in the second set sealed the win at 6-2, 6-2.
Lupinetti and Nottage each recorded a 6-0, 6-0 straight set
victories at third and fourth singles, respectively. Lupinetti's
consistent backhand and ground strokes led to his win against Jeff
Levy. Nottage hit a finesse drop shot to win the third point in the
first set. Robinson took down Barton 6-1, 6-1 at fifth singles.
Robinson's backspins shots down the line allowed him to pull ahead
in the second set backed up by his solid serves gave him the win.
Athans capped the sweep at sixth singles as he maintained control
against SMC's Kenny Nugent with solid ground strokes en route to a
6-0, 6-1 victory.
The Sea Gull women's team, ranked No. 13 in the region, started
their sweep of the Seahawks with three doubles points. Sophomore
Jackie Burr and junior Anna Marie
Kable, ranked No. 7 in the region for doubles, jumped out
to a 5-2 lead over Sarah Weisse and Michelle Compton at first
doubles thanks to Kable's solid ground strokes. Weisse hit a shot
down the SU line but a sprinting Burr was there to return it
between her opponents for the 8-3 win. SU juniors Hannah
Parsons and Robyn Wendell pulled ahead of
their opponents at second doubles with an early 6-3 lead. SMC's duo
of Monica Powell and Erin Marzoli rallied to make it 4-7 but
Wendell's comfortable serving pushed the Gulls to the 8-4 win. The
third doubles duo of junior Lauren Bakker and
freshman Angela Tenaglia defeated SMC's Colleen
O'Neil and Katherine Garlock. SU jumped out early to 4-1 lead
before the Seahawks won the next two points. Bakker's service game
sealed the 8-3 win.
It was more of the same for Salisbury in singles competition.
The Sea Gulls' first through fourth singles' matches each jumped
out to 3-0 leads in the first sets. Sophomore Kelly
Fahrner used a consistent ground strokes and timely lob
shots to key her 6-0, 6-1 win at first singles over Weisse. Parsons
made her season debut at second singles won 6-3, 6-2 against
Compton as she was exceptional at the net. Sophomore
Kristen King, also moved up a spot and made her
season debut at No. 3 singles, played well and cruised to a 6-1,
6-1 win over Powell. King's cross court returns were pivotal in her
second set as she sealed the victory. Tenaglia was effective with
her returns and hit some nice drop shots to win 6-0, 6-2 at fourth
singles. Freshman Julia Glanz beat O'Neil after
rallying from a 2-1 deficit in the first set at fifth singles.
Glanz went on to win 6-3, 6-1 with her accurate ball placement.
Bakker, the first to finish singles play, made quick work of
Garlock with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
