Box Score COLUMBUS - The No. 6 Columbus State University women's tennis team is headed back to the NCAA Championship Round of 16 following a 4-2 win over No. 8 North Georgia in the second round of the NCAA Southeast Regional on Saturday. The match took place at the John W. Walden Tennis in Columbus.
The win puts the Lady Cougars back in the round of 16 for the 10th straight season as CSU looks for another deep postseason run. Columbus State has reached the national semifinal round in each of the last three tournaments.Â
"This is an unbelievable run by the girls, and I'm super proud of what they accomplished over the last two weeks," commented head coach
Evan Isaacs. "We still have some work to do, but it will be awesome to get back to Orlando for nationals."
The NCAA Championship begins on May 17 in Altamonte Springs, Fla., just outside of Orlando.Â
CSU started the day on the right foot by taking 2-of-the-3 doubles matches. Both of the Lady Cougar victories came by a 6-2 margin as CSU took care of second and third doubles.
Neila Trklja and
Agostina Bigotti downed Svetlana Teterina and Claudelle Labonte-Frey in the second spot, while
Sara Ramirez and
Luciana Galves defeated Cibeles Zuddy and Anna Markvartova at third doubles.Â
No. 14 Vaishali Jorge and Johanna Lippert of UNG gave the Nighthawks a clean 6-0 win over No. 12
Valentina Abrile and
Mariana Ramirez at the first doubles position.Â
Columbus State was rolling early in singles play, moving in front 3-0 after No. 9 Trklja recorded a 7-5, 6-0 win over No. 75 Jorge in the first spot and No. 52
Mariana Ramirez upset No. 39 Lippert 6-3, 6-0 at second singles.Â
However, North Georgia still had plenty of fight left with three-set matches brewing all across the complex. Zuddy won the first point of the day for North Georgia after outlasting Bigotti 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 at sixth singles keeping UNG alive.Â
No. 60 Markvartova extended the match and inched the Nighthawks closer after finishing off a win over No. 61 Abrile. Markvartova won the three-set thriller at third singles 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.
The fate of the year for both teams came down to the fourth and fifth positions, where both matches were in the decisive set. In the end, Yelena Labt punched CSU's ticket to Florida with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 come from behind win over Teterina in the fourth flight.
Galves was leading Labonte-Frey 6-7, 6-0, 2-0 when play was called.
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Columbus State will gear up for its NCAA Championship Round of 16 match on May 17.
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