Champion Pirates match up against top-5 opponents

The No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Division II women's tennis went the way of top-ranked and two-time defending national champion AASU on March 5 as the Lady Pirates defeated Lynn University (LU), 7-2, at Bacon Park.

The Lady Pirates (11-0) remained perfect in the 2010 season while handing visiting LU (6-1) its first loss of the year.

In last year's regular-season matchup, the Pirates swept all three doubles matches and went up 4-0, but watched LU come back to capture at 5-4 victory. This time, the Pirates did win all three doubles matchups but clinched the match with two quick singles wins to ensure the victory. LU's only points came in two third-set 10-point tiebreaks.

Third-ranked Alida Muller-Wehlau and Martina Beckmann knocked off 10th-ranked Magdalena Ekert and Katerina Jiskrova, 9-7, at No. 1 doubles to start the sweep for AASU. Fourth-ranked Gabriella Kovacs and Sona Novakova dispatched Eleonora Iannozzi and Jessica Yanoff, 8-5, at No. 2 doubles, while 15th-ranked Kathleen Henry and Tina Ronel defeated Christine Johnstone and Tessie Salame, 9-8 (3), at No. 3 doubles.

AASU picked up a pair of quick singles wins to clinch the match as 24th-ranked Beckmann beat 39th-ranked Salame, 6-1, 7-5, at No. 5 singles and Henry beat Johnstone, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 6 singles. Fifth-ranked Muller-Wehlau beat 14th-ranked Ekert, 6-1, 7-6, at No. 3 singles and all three remaining singles matches went to 10-point tiebreaks.

15th-ranked Kovacs notched a 6-7, 7-6, (10-3) win over 37th-ranked Yanoff at No. 4 singles for the Lady Pirates.

LU's 11th-ranked Jiskrova notched a 7-6, 2-6, (10-8) win over top-ranked Novakova at No. 1 singles, while 19th-ranked Iannozzi earned a 3-6, 7-6, (11-9) win over 38th-ranked Ronel at No. 3 singles for the Knights' two points in the match.

Meanwhile, the top-ranked defending Division II national champion AASU men's tennis team trailed for the first time in 2010 after doubles but swept all six singles matches to claim a 7-2 victory over visiting LU at Bacon Park.

The Pirates (11-0) dropped two of three doubles matches to the Knights (6-2) after dropping just one doubles point in its previous 10 matches, but AASU was able to win four of the six singles matches in straight sets to clinch the match, then take two 10-point tiebreaks for the singles sweep.

At No. 1 doubles, the fourth-ranked duo of Rafael Array and Mikk Irdoja notched an 8-6 win over Alessandro Sarra and Willi Wolfer for AASU's only doubles point. Fifth-ranked Luca Pavanelli and Alex Voirin defeated Matus Mydla and Daniel Regan, 8-6, at No. 2 doubles and Tomas Racak and George Laffey collected an 8-3 win over Eudaldo Bonet and Paul Fitzgerald at No. 3 doubles for Lynn.

Fourth-ranked Irdoja led the way in singles with a 6-1, 6-3 win over eighth-ranked Sarra at No. 1 singles for the Pirates. Bonet notched a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 19-ranked Racak at No. 2 singles, while fifth-ranked Array defeated 32nd-ranked Pavanelli, 4-6, 6-0 (10-6) at No. 3 singles.

Mydla knocked off 26th-ranked Wolfer, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 4 singles and Regan notched a 3-6, 6-3, (10-6) win over Voirin at No. 5 singles. 38th-ranked Fitzgerald completed the singles sweep with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Laffey at No. 6 singles.

A day after knocking off the No. 2-ranked team in the country, Division II national champions picked up a 6-3 win over No. 13-ranked California (Pa.) on March 6 in a neutral-site match in Orlando, Fla.

The Lady Pirates (11-0) remained unbeaten on the season and also knocked off its fifth straight nationally-ranked opponent with the win over the Vulcans (8-3). California (Pa.) dropped its first match of its Florida trip, falling to 2-1 in the Sunshine State.

AASU swept all three doubles matches from the Vulcans to take a 3-0 lead. The third-ranked duo of Beckmann and Muller-Wehlau notched an 8-5 win over Julia Cohen and Jutta Bornefeld at No. 1 doubles, while the fourth-ranked duo of Kovacs and Novakova defeated the ninth-ranked duo of Nina Kowalski and Laurie Navarro, 8-0, at No. 2 doubles. 15th-ranked Kathleen Henry and Tina Ronel completed the sweep with a 9-7 win over Anastassiya Zherdeva and Jade Pondicas at No. 3 doubles.

The Lady Pirates clinched the win with a pair of quick singles wins. Fifth-ranked Muller-Wehlau defeated 36th-ranked Kowalski, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2 singles, while Henry picked up a big 6-0, 6-0 win over No. 29-ranked Alina Stanila at No. 5 singles.

California (Pa.) notched a singles win at No. 6 with Pondicas defeating Alisa Kagukina, 6-4, 7-6. The remaining three singles matches went to third-set 10-point tiebreaks, with the Vulcans taking two of those tiebreakers —Cohen upset No. 1 Novakova, 7-5, 3-6, (10-4) at No. 1 singles and Bornefeld upset No. 15 Kovacs, 4-6, 7-6, (10-4) at No. 4 singles. No. 38 Ronel defeated Zherdeva, 6-4, 4-6, (10-3) at No. 3 singles to cap the scoring for the Pirates.