The Georgia Southern University women’s tennis team (5-1) beat the Savannah State Tigers at home. The Eagles swept the Tigers 7-0, gaining an early 2-0 lead after defeating the Tigers in doubles and receiving a forfeit point because the Tigers didn’t have enough players to play on all courts.

Senior Mariana Ranzahuer and sophomore Lindsay Truscott won their doubles match 6-2 against Lochu and Pastore. Sophomore Paige Christian and freshman Nikki Gilner won their match 6-3 against Vivas and el Kateb.

“We are feeling really confident. We’re on a 5-1 streak, which is really good for us because we have Georgia Tech coming up next, who I think are pretty strong,” Ella Monsey, junior, said.

“We’ve played some good teams so far, so I think we will be fine [against Georgia Tech],” Nikki Gilner, freshman, said.

As the singles matches came full circle, it was no doubt in the Eagles’ control. Sophomore Emilia Bujan, Lindsay Truscott and freshman Arianne de Winter all won their matches in straight sets.

Bujan defeated Burrows 6-1,6-0, Truscott defeated Pastore 6-2, 7-5, and De Winter defeated el Kateb 6-1, 6-1. It was smooth sailing for the Eagles on all courts, except for courts one and three where Christian and senior Giulia Riepe both went to the third set.

For Christian, she won the first set 6-0, but her opponent Vivas didn’t let that stop her from battling back and taking the second set 4-6. After losing the second set, Christian won the third set in convincing fashion, winning 10-3, which gave the Eagles a 6-0 lead and one point shy of a sweep.

On court one that features each team’s number one player, Riepe faced off against Lochu, and the match lasted over an hour after all other matches ended. Riepe lost the first set 4-6 but battled back to win the second set 6-3 in a match-up with two evenly matched players. The third set was a crucial time and growing point for Riepe as she came from behind, 4-0 down, to beat Lochu 10-8.

“It was really good [that Riepe battled back]. We have a lot to talk about–about that match, it was definitely more of a mental battle for her than anything, so just working on that confidence and controlling that mental side of the game is going to help her,” Michelle Stanford, head coach, said.

The win was big for Riepe because, in the Eagles previous game against the University of Central Florida, she lost in two sets and lost a close match earlier in the season in the same type of situation.

The Eagles’ next game is against 11-ranked Georgia Tech at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18.