Teresa Durham, Staff Writer
The Lady Pirates beat out Alabama’s Montevallo Falcons 9-0, keeping their position of No. 1 rank in NCAA Division II. In the beginning, the ladies immediately took hold of the three doubles matches, gaining a massive lead.
“Getting all doubles matches to start, I think is really important and giving us a three-nothing lead,” Head Tennis Coach Sean McCaffrey said.
8-0 for No. 1 doubles’ match by Lena Lutzeier and Diana Stomlega versus Alice Copland and Rayne Sinclair. No. 2 doubles’ match was picked up by Pirates’ Alice Patch and Tamri Chalaganidze against Falcons’ Julia Berg and Amanda Gautreaux, 8-2. Falcons’ Allie Whitley and Emily Beatty lost the No. 3 doubles’ match 8-1 against Armstrong’s Tatjana Stoll and Paula Boixader Roca.
The women’s team had almost no competition in the Montevallo Falcons, even after having some shaky line calls from opposing teams and officiators.
Junior Lena Lutzeier easily steale the No. 1 singles’ match at 6-0, 6-0 with her power-serves and overheads.
“In my opinion, she’s the number one player in the nation,” Head Coach McCaffrey said.
Armstrong freshman Tatjana Stoll rallied against Montevallo sophomore Emily Beatty, winning the No. 2 single’s 6-4, 6-4. Both are quality baseline players and Stoll used some lobs and spins, plus her speed serve to break up Beatty’s attack.
In the No. 3 singles’ match, Armstrong freshman Paula Boixader Roca only let her opponent, Montevallo sophomore Julia Berg, get one game in the entire match.
The No. 4 singles’ match with sophomore Rayne Sinclair was taken by Armstrong’s singles’ Diana Stomlega, 6-2, 6-2.
Junior Pirate Tamri Chalaganidze took both her games against Montevallo freshman Amanda Gautreaux, 6-2, 6-4 for the No. 5 singles’ match.
Champion sophomore Alice Patch got all games except one in the No. 6 singles’ match (6-0, 6-1) against Montevallo sophomore Lauren Pero.
“I felt like they did a good job … In singles, five of the six girls took care of business in under an hour, some 30-40 minutes even,” Head Coach McCaffrey said.
The women’s tennis team is 10-1 for the season and 5-0 for the Peach Belt Conference.
More home matches are to follow at the new Armstrong Tennis Complex:
This Tuesday the 7th at 2:00 p.m. we play Hawaii Pacific. (Women’s team only)
Friday the 10th at 2:00 p.m. is against Barry. (Both teams)
Sunday the 12th at 2:00 p.m. Valdosta State will be our opponents. (Both teams)
Monday the 13th at 10:00 a.m. West Florida will play against us. (Both teams)
