No. 39 Tusculum ends season with 5-0 loss at No. 2 Armstrong in NCAA opener

Pioneers end year with 22-3 record for most wins in school and SAC history

Published by Editor on May 8, 2014.
Published under Tusculum

Share This Article

Google1

Tusculum Sports LogoTop-seed Armstrong Atlantic State University recorded a 5-0 victory over No. 8 seed Tusculum College in the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Southeast Regional, hosted by AASU at the Bacon Center.

Armstrong (24-1), the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, advances to Monday’s regional semifinal to face the No. 4 seed Francis Marion University. Tusculum (22-3), the No. 39 team in the country, has its season ended while snapping a five-match winning streak. The 22 wins by the Pioneers are a new school and South Atlantic Conference single-season record.

The Lady Pirates, the two-time defending NCAA II national champions, swept all three doubles matches, including an 8-1 pro set win by the duo of Alexsndra Filipoviski and Barbora Krtickova over the TC team of Kate Hutchinson and Kealee Heffner. Filipoviski and Kritckova, the top-ranked doubles team in the nation, improves to 23-1 on the year.

AASU picked up their second point when the No. 3 flight doubles pair of Clara Perez and Carolina Prats-Milan won 8-0 over TC’s Amanda Sumner and Emily Waters.

TC’s No. 2 doubles pairing of Adrienne Kaye and Erin Mills battled the eighth-ranked doubles duo in the nation in Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa as the Pioneer duo only trailed 5-3. But the Hacke and Kalodzitsa won three of the final four games to claim an 8-4 victory.

Filipoviski, the No. 2 singles player in the country, won in straight sets (6-0, 6-0) over Tusculum’s Sarah Baker at the No. 1 flight.

Kalodzitsa recorded the match-clincher with her 6-0, 6-0 win over Sumner at No. 6 singles.

Sunday’s loss marked Tusculum’s first road defeat of the season (9-1), while the Lady Pirates extend their 136-match home winning streak, which dates back to 2003.

The Pioneers were making their eighth NCAA Division II Tournament appearance as the 2014 SAC Tournament champions will return all seven letter-winners from this year’s squad.