LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University men's tennis program registered a 4-1 victory over Mississippi College on Wednesday, but the Lady Choctaws pulled out a nail-biter over the Lady Braves 4-3 at the Alcorn Tennis Courts.
Â
"I'm happy with our overall performances. The men played their best match of the year and have really been improving a lot. I'm very happy with the men's courts and the effort they put forward," said Alcorn head coach
Barbara Oliveira. "The women took a tough loss, but we need more team spirit. There were some good individual courts but we were missing team-energy. There are things we know we need to correct for the upcoming matches and we still have important matches ahead of us for both the men and women."
Â
The Braves set the tone right away by winning the doubles point. The No. 1 team of junior
Gjorgji Popovski and sophomore
Johnatan Parat won 6-4, while the No. 2 duo of junior
Ivan Matas and sophomore
Stojan Stojanovski cruised 6-2.
Â
Popovski continued his strong play at the top with a straight-set 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles. Stojanovski also won both of his matches on the day with a 7-6, 6-1 victory at the No. 3 position.
Â
Senior
Nuno Rocha clinched for the Braves in an intense three-setter at No. 4 singles. He won the back-and-forth battle over Max Nilges 6-1, 4-6, 7-6.
Â
The Lady Braves also won their doubles point to take an early lead. Senior
Bianca Birkenstock and junior
Anastasia Vaganova made quick work at No. 2 doubles with a 6-1 win. It came down to No. 1 doubles where senior
Ammaarah Tim and freshman
Stefany Grlj tallied a 7-6 win in a tiebreaker.
Â
It was an unbeaten day for both Vaganova and Grlj. Alcorn trailed 3-2 when Vaganova came back to win a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 decision at the No. 2 position to keep the Lady Braves alive. It came after Grlj submitted a 6-4, 6-2 win at the No. 3 spot.
Â
It ultimately came down to No. 5 singles. Tim won the first set 6-3 when she found herself down 5-2 in the second. She clawed all the way back to force a tiebreaker, but MC's Aneta Golawska scraped to 9-7 decision and saved one match point. With all other matches completed, the teams agreed to play a super-tiebreaker in lieu of a third set. Golawska finished on top 10-7.
Â
The Alcorn men will return to the court this weekend for a pair of matches in Edinburg, Texas. They'll face Nicholls at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by an 11 a.m. Sunday match versus Texas Rio Grande Valley. The women are off until Thursday, April 4 when they battle Jackson State in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Â
Men's Tennis
Alcorn 4, Mississippi College 1
Doubles Competition
1.
Johnatan Parat/
Gjorgji Popovski (ALCM) def. Maksym Konovalov/Francois Le Tallec (MC) 6-4
2.
Stojan Stojanovski/
Ivan Matas (ALCM) def. Shane Samyn/Max Nilges (MC) 6-2
3. Brady McDaniel/Ben Jarvis (MC) def.
Kareem Bowe/
Nuno Rocha (ALCM) 6-3
Â
Singles Competition
1.
Gjorgji Popovski (ALCM) def. Maksym Konovalov (MC) 7-5, 6-4
2. Francois Le Tallec (MC) def.
Johnatan Parat (ALCM) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
3.
Stojan Stojanovski (ALCM) def. Shane Samyn (MC) 7-6, 6-1
4.
Nuno Rocha (ALCM) def. Max Nilges (MC) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6
5.
Ivan Matas (ALCM) vs. Brady McDaniel (MC) 4-6, unfinished
6.
Santiago Rocca (ALCM) vs. Ben Jarvis (MC) 2-6, 3-2, unfinished
Â
Women's Tennis
Mississippi College 4, Alcorn 3
Doubles Competition
1.
Ammaarah Tim/
Stefany Grlj (ALCW) def. Aneta Golawska/Alisa Morozova (MC) 7-6
2.
Bianca Birkenstock/
Anastasia Vaganova (ALCW) def. S. Gonzalez-Carrera/Rebecca G. Kimball (MC) 6-1
3. Nicole Bueno/Paulina Cota (MC) def.
Klavdija Bukovec/
Veronika Pytlikova (ALCW) 6-2
Â
Singles Competition
1. Alisa Morozova (MC) def.
Bianca Birkenstock (ALCW) 6-0, 6-2
2.
Anastasia Vaganova (ALCW) def. Nicole Bueno (MC) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6
3.
Stefany Grlj (ALCW) def. S. Gonzalez-Carrera (MC) 6-4, 6-2
4. Paulina Cota (MC) def.
Klavdija Bukovec (ALCW) 6-3, 6-1
5. Aneta Golawska (MC) def.
Ammaarah Tim (ALCW) 3-6, 7-6, 10-7
6. Rebecca G. Kimball (MC) def.
Veronika Pytlikova (ALCW) 6-1, 6-1
Â
#FearTheBrave
Â
