March 26, 2010

Final Stats

HAMILTON, Ohio--A gritty effort propelled Miami University's women's tennis team to a 5-2 Mid-American Conference opening win over Western Michigan University on Friday evening at Riverside Athletic Club in Hamilton, Ohio.

The RedHawks improve to 8-5 on the season and 1-0 in MAC play, while the Broncos drop to 8-9 overall and 0-1 in league action.

"This is a great start to MAC play," said interim head coach Ricardo Rosas. "Coming off last week with two tough matches--one we won and one we lost--it was good to see the team win the MAC opener and playing well in both doubles and singles. We need to keep working hard because we are going to be challenged and need to come ready to play for every match this season."

Miami got off to a strong start, winning the doubles point. The RedHawks' top tandem of sophomore Stephanie Danesis and junior Megan Martzolf led pretty much from the onset and cruised to an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. Miami battled back at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles with sophomore Riekie Honiball and junior Cara Wald grinding out an 8-5 win in the second flight and juniors Anastasia Dracheva and Sydnee Bridger being edged 10-8 in a back-and-forth tiebreaker to fall in the third flight, 8-7.

Honiball/Wald trailed 5-4 but then rallied to win four straight for an 8-5 win in the second flight to hand Miami the doubles point after the Danesis/Martzolf win at No. 1 doubles. Dracheva and Bridger also put forth a gritty effort, trailing 5-2 and coming back to knot the set 5-5, then going toe-to-toe with Yumi Matsuto and Maria Nivia until the very end.

Miami picked up wins at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles to secure the match.

Western Michigan captured No. 5 singles by a score of 6-3, 6-1 to even the match 1-1. Miami regained the advantage when Dracheva pounded out a 6-2, 6-0 win in the first flight, but the Broncos again knotted the match 2-2 as they took No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-1.

Martzolf clinched the match for the RedHawks with a 6-3, 6-3 win in the third flight, moving her to 13-0 on the season at No. 3 singles. Danesis gutted out a 7-6 (15-13) win in the first set at No. 5 singles and came back to take the second set 6-3, while Honiball rebounded from a 6-2 loss in the first set to hammer out a 7-5 win in the second set and a 10-0 win in the tie-breaker.

Miami continues MAC play, hosting Bowling Green at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 27. The game is scheduled for the Hepburn Varsity Courts on the Oxford campus.

Miami 5, Western Michigan 2

Singles:
1. Anastasia Dracheva (MU) def. Amanda Moccia (WMU) -- 6-2; 6-0
2. Stephanie Danesis (MU) def. Emily Dudzik (WMU) -- 7-6 (15-13); 6-3
3. Megan Martzolf (MU) def. Maggie Remynse (WMU) -- 6-3; 6-3
4. Riekie Honiball (MU) def. Yumi Matsuto (WMU) -- 2-6; 7-5 (10-0)
5. Maria Nivia (WMU) def. Cara Wald (MU) vs. -- 6-3; 6-1
6. Jill Pastunink (WMU) def. Sydnee Bridger (MU) vs. -- 6-3; 6-1
Finish: 5, 1, 6, 3, 2, 4

Doubles
1. Danasis/Martzolf (MU) def. Dudzik/Pastunink (WMU) - 8-2
2. Honiball/Wald (MU) def. Moccia/April Kerr (WMU) - 8-5
3. Matsuto/Nivia (WMU) def. Dracheva/Bridger (MU) - 8-7 (10-8)
Finish: 1, 2, 3