University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Downed by UNC-Wilmington
3/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
The Minnesota women’s tennis team dropped its first of three matches on its East Coast road trip on Monday, falling to UNC-Wilmington 4-3 in Wilmington, N.C. The loss, which came without 54th-ranked Natallia Pintusava, Yuliana Umanets, and Alessandra Ferrazzi (in singles) in the lineup, dropped the Gophers to 4-8 and extended a five-game losing skid.
UNCW started the contest by winning a closely contested doubles competition. Minnesota’s Alexa Palen and Mariana Spilca began the day with a dominating 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles, but the Seahawks responded with 8-3 and 8-5 wins at the top two spots to claim the first point of the match.
The Seahawks came storming out of the gates in singles play to seal the win by taking the first three matches to finish. Freshman Elliana Kantar, playing in her second-ever dual match, and Spilca dropped straight-set decisions at No. 6 and 5, respectively. At the top flight, UNCW’s Christina Lee toppled Magdalena Wiecha 6-2, 6-3 in Wiecha’s second career match at No. 1.
Minnesota broke up UNC-Wilmington’s chances of a sweep when Doron Muravnik won her second straight match and third singles match in her last four, rallying to beat Angela Sekely at No. 3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. After Muravnik secured her victory, Palen wrapped up a straight-set defeat of Christina Riley at No. 2. It was Palen’s second career match at the No. 2 flight and was her first win at the position.
At No. 4, Peta Forsyth picked up her first singles triumph of 2011 by beating Kelly Cameron 10-5 in a decisive match tiebreaker. Forsyth lost the first game 6-1, but earned a 6-3 win in the second game to force a tiebreaker.
The Gophers will finish up their road trip with a match at No. 49 on Tuesday and a match at sixth-ranked North Carolina on Thursday. After a week off, they will return to the Baseline Tennis Center to continue Big Ten play on April 2 with a match against No. 4 Michigan.
Singles competition
1. Christina Lee (UNCW) def. Magdalena Wiecha (MINN) 6-2, 6-3
2. Alexa Palen (MINN) def. Christina Riley (UNCW) 6-2, 6-3
3. Doron Muravnik (MINN) def. Angela Sekely (UNCW) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
4. Peta Forsyth (MINN) def. Kelly Cameron (UNCW) 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)
5. Chelsea Kahle (UNCW) def. Mariana Spilca (MINN) 6-0, 6-1
6. Lindsay Leblang (UNCW) def. Elianna Kantar (MINN) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Olga Blank/Angela Sekely (UNCW) def. Alessandra Ferrazzi/Doron Muravnik (MINN) 8-3
2. Lindsay Leblang/Christina Lee (UNCW) def. Peta Forsyth/Magdalena Wiecha (MINN) 8-5
3. Mariana Spilca/Alexa Palen (MINN) def. Chelsea Kahle/Kelly Cameron (UNCW) 8-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,5,1,4,2,3)
Players Mentioned
