The Wolves women’s tennis team claimed the title of City of Florence College Tennis Invitational Champions this past weekend.
FLORENCE — The Newberry College women’s tennis team (8-0) won all three of their matches over the weekend (Feb. 5-6) on their way to claiming the title of City of Florence College Tennis Invitational Champions.
Judit Gonzalez Agud (Barcelona, Spain) clinched her singles match against Lander to solidify the victory on Sunday.
The Wolves opened the tournament on Saturday against the host team, Francis Marion, and they wasted no time setting the tone as all three doubles pairings walked away with victories no closer than 6-2. In singles play, Nastassia Chamoun (Rouen, France) continued this trend of dominance as she quickly won her match at No. 3 singles by a score of 6-1, 6-1. Zulay Casteneda (Panama City, Panama) was not far behind as she defeated her opponent at No. 1 singles 6-4, 6-1, putting the Wolves one win away from moving on. Ish Singh (Gurugram, India) and Amy Griffiths (Liverpool, England) would then both come away victorious, but Singh clinched the match officially, securing the 5-0 win over Francis Marion to send Newberry to the second round.
In the second round, the Wolves faced South Atlantic Conference foe, Lenoir-Rhyne, who was recently projected to finish fifth in the conference. Doubles play started out more competitive than in the first round, but the duos of Griffiths/Gonzalez and Castaneda/Rosie Harfield (Lee-on-Solent, England) were each able to secure 6-3 wins to claim the crucial doubles point. Singh was able to secure a win at No. 6 singles, but Gonzalez fell at the No. 2 singles position. Then, after a tough first set that resulted in a tiebreaker, Griffiths was able to steamroll her way to a 6-0 second set that put the Wolves in the driver’s seat up 3-1 overall in the match. Chamoun answered the call by claiming No. 3 singles 6-2, 7-6 after only allowing two points in the second-set tiebreaker, setting up a match against Lander with the championship on the line.
The championship match proved to be competitive out of the gate. After a rare 2-6 loss at No. 1 doubles by Lucy Spice (Maidstone, England) and Chamoun, Gonzalez and Griffiths claimed No. 2 doubles by a score of 6-3. It all came down to the third doubles position where Castaneda and Harfield found themselves all knotted up at 5-5, but they were able to dig in and secure the 7-5 victory, giving Newberry the doubles point. In singles play, Spice was able to shake off the doubles loss by getting a win at No. 5 singles by a score of 6-0, 6-4, and Castaneda was not far behind, claiming No. 1 singles 6-4, 6-1. Gonzalez proved to be the hero as she clinched the match for the Wolves with her 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles, bringing the trophy back to Newberry.
The Wolves return to action on Saturday, Feb. 12 when they officially open up SAC play as they host Queens at the Oakland Tennis Center at 2 p.m.