ELON, N.C. – UNC Greensboro's Alejandra Guerra broke her own school record with her 28th win of the season as the third-seeded Spartans advanced to the semifinal round in the Southern Conference Women's Tennis Tournament with a 4-2 win over tournament host and No. 6 seed Elon on Friday at the Powell Tennis Center.
The Spartans (15-5) advanced to face second-seeded College of Charleston on Saturday at 10 am. The Cougars handled No. 7 Samford, 4-0, in their quarterfinal round match on Friday.
Guerra, who is currently ranked No. 83 in the nation, topped Anna Milian by identical 6-4 scores to run her mark to 28-8 on the season. That eclipses the single-season win mark she established last year in going 27-5 as a junior. For Guerra, it was her fifth straight win and raised her mark to 16-3 this spring. All three of those losses this spring have come against Top 50 ranked players.
UNCG started the day by winning two of the three doubles pro-sets to claim an early 1-0 lead. Guerra and Arielle VonStrolley teamed up for their 23rd win of the year, defeating Milian and Pagie Kensrue, 8-5. It was their 10th straight win, raising their mark to 23-8 this year, 16-4 for the spring.
Valerie Behr and Lucy Dougherty won their ninth straight doubles match and moved to 11-0 against SoCon foes this spring with an 8-5 win over Hayley Wahl and Daleen Kloppers.
Dougherty then made it 2-0 with another dominant performance, blanking Laura Graybill, 6-0 and 6-0. Dougherty won her 10th straight match and has now won 11 of her last 21 sets by a 6-0 score. The freshman from Melbourne, Australia is 22-8 this season, one win shy of Erica Zabkar's school mark for wins by a freshman. She is 17-3 this spring, including 11-0 against SoCon opponents.
Elon (13-12) won a pair of singles matches around Guerra's win at No. 1 singles. But VonStrolley closed out the victory with a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles over Elisia Simonetti.
College of Charleston defeated UNCG in the regular season meeting, 4-3, way back on March 21. The Spartans will be looking for their first conference championship round birth since 1997, when they won the Big South title.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro 4, Elon 2
Singles competition
1. Alejandra Guerra (UNCG) def. Anna Milian (ELON) 6-4, 6-4
2. Paige Kensrue (ELON) def. Valerie Behr (UNCG) 6-3, 6-4
3. Arielle VonStrolley (UNCG) def. Elisa Simonetti (ELON) 7-5, 6-4
4. Lauren Sessoms (ELON) def. Britney Cloer (UNCG) 7-5, 6-2
5. Lucy Dougherty (UNCG) def. Laura Graybill (ELON) 6-0, 6-0
6. Jessica Eblen (UNCG) vs. Hayley Wahl (ELON) 6-3 (9-11), 6-7, 2-3, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Alejandra Guerra/Arielle VonStrolley (UNCG) def. Anna Milian/Paige Kensrue (ELON) 8-5
2. Valerie Behr/Lucy Dougherty (UNCG) def. Hayley Wahl/Daleen Kloppers (ELON) 8-5
3. Elisa Simonetti/Whitney Butcher (ELON) def. Jessica Eblen/Britney Cloer (UNCG) 8-5
- UNCG -