Women on a roll, win third straight
The GCSU Women’s tennis team continued their winning ways by sweeping conference rival USC Aiken at home Wednesday. The women have been on fire lately, winning five out of their last six, including a win over No. 7 Valdosta State University. Head Coach Steve Barsby attributes the ladies success to the team camaraderie.
“The main thing is that the girls are coming together as a team,” Barsby said. “Our team chemistry is the reason why we are where we are; tennis can seem like an individual sport but our team has made it a group effort.”
Today’s win marked the women’s third straight win. The victory did not come easy though, as the women started the day out by losing two out of three doubles matches. Things started well as GCSU’s Anna Shchupak and Celine Martin defeated USC Aiken’s Dominique Cassetori and Elly Toth 8-4 in the No. 1 position. But in No. 2, USC Aiken picked up a win with Otavia Bastos and Mayra Kaefer defeating Anna Davidsson and Jessica McKnight 8-6. Things continued downhill as USC Aiken won another doubles victory in the No. 3 spot with Sofia Intriago and Gabby Acuna falling to Marine Cannic and Nicole Copp 8-0. Barsby does his best to pick the girls up when they are struggling by giving them pep talks.
“When the girls are struggling, I just try to be as positive as I can for them,” Barsby said. “They have been playing a long match and the last thing that you can do is overanalyze it for them. I just give them little pointers and reassure them that they can do it.”
The women came on strong though in the single matches, winning five of the six matches. In the No. 1 position, Shchupak defeated Copp 6-0;6-0, and Martin defeated Cassetori 7-5;6-2 in the No. 2 spot. Davidsson held off Bastos 6-4;6-1 at No. 3 singles. In the No. 4 singles match, Intriago grabbed a victory for the Bobcats by defeating Kaefer 5-7;6-4;6-3. Trouble arose in the No. 5 singles as GCSU’s Acuna fell to USC Aiken’s Cannic 6-1;6-4. McKnight finished it off for GCSU with a 6-2;4-6;10-4 win against Toth in the No. 6 spot.
“Thanks to big victories and hard practices, the team is motivated to do well and play their best,” junior Celine Martin said. “It is great to beat teams like USC Aiken and Valdosta State; it makes us work harder to be on the same level as them.”
The Lady Bobcats have plenty of confidence that they can finish the season off winning out. They resume play Sunday at home against Anderson.
“It is different from match to match and day to day,” senior Anna Shchupak said. “We try to do our best and fight to the end. The big wins help our confidence a lot; it makes us believe we are capable of beating any team out there.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Apr 7 2006. Filed under Sports.
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