Lady Pirates dominate the court

The top-ranked and defending two-time NCAA Division II AASU women’s tennis team collected a 9-0 victory over No. 29-ranked Georgia College & State University (GCSU) at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility in Milledgeville, and over the No. 8-ranked Columbus State (CSU) at the Blackmon Tennis Center in Columbus, Ga.

The Lady Pirates (7-0, 5-0 PBC) extended their current regular season Peach Belt Conference (PBC) winning streak to 68 with the victories, a streak that dates back to 2003. GCSU (2-2, 0-1 PBC) suffered the loss in its 2010 conference opener.

AASU began the match by sweeping all three doubles matches. The third-ranked duo of Alida Muller-Wehlau and Martina Beckmann collected an 8-4 win over Bertille Lion and Diane Danna at No. 1 doubles. Fourth-ranked Gabriella Kovacs and Sona Novakova defeated Kayla Barksdale and Michelle Lingner, 8-3, at No. 2 doubles while the 15th-ranked duo of Kathleen Henry and Tina Ronel defeated Adriana Acuna and Linda Mosa, 8-3, at No. 3 doubles.

The Lady Pirates then won all six singles matches in straight sets. Top-ranked Novakova defeated Danna, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 1 singles and fifth-ranked Muller-Wehlau beat Barksdale, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2 singles. No. 38-ranked Ronel downed Lion, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 3 singles and 24th-ranked Beckmann defeated Lingner, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 5 singles.
Henry knocked off Mosa, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6 singles and Alisa Kagukina blanked Acuna, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 6 singles to complete the sweep.

The Lady Pirates (8-0, 6-0 PBC) did drop their first point of the 2010 dual match season, while handing CSU (8-2, 2-1 PBC) its first PBC loss of the campaign.

The No. 3-ranked duo of Beckmann and Muller-Wehlau defeated the duo of Loriane Favoretto and Hanae Toumi, 8-4, at No. 1 doubles. No. 4-ranked Kovacs and Novakova knocked off Tracy Castillo and Carterina Kiefer, 8-0, at No. 2 doubles, but the CSU duo of Gabriela Vasilescu and Sofia Persson became the first to grab a point from the Lady Pirates in 2010, defeating 15th-ranked Henry and Ronel, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles.

Top-ranked Novakova led the sweep in singles for AASU by blanking the reigning PBC Player of the Week, Favoretto, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 singles. Fifth-ranked Muller-Wehlau swept Castillo, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 2 singles, while 38th-ranked Ronel beat Persson, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 3 singles.

24th-ranked Kovacs defeated Kiefer, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 4 singles for the Lady Pirates while Beckmann downed Vasilescu, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 5 singles. Henry completed the sweep with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Andrea Redrado at No. 6 singles.