CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Elon University women’s tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision today, April 6, against the Chattanooga Mocs at the UTC Tennis Courts to fall to 4-3 in Southern Conference play this season.
“Both matches were very competitive this weekend and it was a great Southern Conference atmosphere,” said Elon head coach Elizabeth Anderson. “Unfortunately, we came up a bit short in both of them. Hopefully we can learn from this type of atmosphere and take it to our next match and the conference tournament.”
The SoCon Tournament will be held in Chattanooga this season from April 16-19.
The afternoon got off on the right foot for the Phoenix with Jordan Johnston and Barbora Lazarova taking an 8-2 victory on doubles court No. 1 over Kaylene Chadwell and Alexa Flynn, but both Elon duos on court Nos. 2 and 3 couldn’t build on the finish at No. 1 and Chattanooga picked up what turned out to be a match-deciding doubles point.
The Mocs kept the momentum going into singles, but only two of the four singles matches were decided in straight sets.
Johnston was the first Elon player to fall in dropping a 7-5, 6-1 decision on court No. 1 against Kayla Jones.Maria Camara Ruiz also fell by a score of 7-5, 6-1 on court No. 5 to Claire Mulyadi. Mulyadi’s victory gave Chattanooga its fourth and final point of the match.
The two straight-set wins sandwiched a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 loss for Lazarova to Flynn on court No. 3. Lazarova has now dropped four of her last five matches after starting the season 10-1.
Though the match was out of reach, Elon’s final three singles players put up a valiant effort in winning on court Nos. 2, 4 and 6 to win the final three matches of the afternoon.
In her first match action since March 16 against Wake Forest, Tolley Rice pulled out a 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-2) super tiebreaker victory on court No. 6 to earn Elon’s first point. She was followed by Bryn Khoury and Frida Jansaker, who each had to recover from loses in their respective first sets to win matches, as Khoury won 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 on No. 5 and Jansaker won 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 on No. 2.
Jansaker’s victory moved her season mark to 12-3. The senior is 12-1 in her last 13 matches since starting the season 0-2 with losses against Virginia Tech and Georgia.
Elon finishes its 2014 road schedule Thursday, April 10, in Greensboro, N.C. with a 2 p.m. match against UNC Greensboro. Both sides entered the weekend with one SoCon loss, but both lost on the road at Chattanooga and Samford to drop to 4-3 in the conference. Therefore, Thursday’s winner will stand alone in fourth place with one SoCon match to play.
Tennis Match Results
Elon vs Chattanooga
Apr 06, 2014 at Chattanooga, Tenn.
(UTC Tennis Courts)
Chattanooga 4, Elon 3
Singles competition
1. Kayla Jones (UTC) def. Jordan Johnston (ELON) 7-5, 6-0
2. Frida Jansaker (ELON) def. Kaylene Chadwell (UTC) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
3. Alexa Flynn (UTC) def. Barbora Lazarova (ELON) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
4. Bryn Khoury (ELON) def. Kelsey Coots (UTC) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
5. Claire Mulyadi (UTC) def. Maria Camara Ruiz (ELON) 7-5, 6-1
6. Tolley Rice (ELON) def. Alison Storie (UTC) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 1-0 (10-2)
Doubles competition
1. Jordan Johnston/Barbora Lazarova (ELON) def. Kaylene Chadwell/Alexa Flynn (UTC) 8-2
2. Kayla Jones/Katie Polk (UTC) def. Frida Jansaker/Maria Camara Ruiz (ELON) 8-3
3. Kelsey Coots/Claire Mulyadi (UTC) def. Bryn Khoury/Taylor Casey (ELON) 8-5
Match Notes:
Elon 10-8, 4-3 SoCon
Chattanooga 16-3, 7-1 SoCon
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,3,5,6,4,2)
T-4:32 A-81