Mississippi State
Southern
Lady Bulldog Tennis Posts 6-1 Victory Over Southern University
February 12, 2012 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Despite being forced to move indoors due to near-freezing temperatures and gusty winds Saturday, Mississippi State's Lady Bulldogs were able to bring the heat, posting a 6-1 victory against the Lady Jaguars of Southern University.
Mississippi State gained the opening point of the day after sweeping doubles play. Ekaterina Iakovleva and Naomi Tran paired up to claim the day's first victory, defeating Camara Davis and Morgan Taylor of Southern University 8-3 at the No. 2 position. Khrystyna Pavlyuk and Alexandra Perper, now 3-0 in doubles play, followed suit taking down SU's Lois Alexis and Carlista Mohammed of 8-4 at No. 1. On court three, Roseline Dion and Petra Ferancova also contributed a doubles win, posting an 8-5 victory against the duo of Gabrielle Moore and Demetria Woods.
Perper kicked off singles play for the Lady Bulldogs at the No. 1 position. Southern University's Mohammed was unable to respond to Perper's precise and powerful serves, resulting in 6-1, 6-3 Bulldog victory for a 2-0 lead.
Consecutive singles victories on courts two and three sealed the Mississippi State win. Iakovleva handled her opponent, Moore, quickly and smoothly in 6-0, 6-0 decision at No. 2. In a similar fashion, Tsigvintseva secured her victory over Woods 6-0, 6-2 at the three spot.
After a nail-biting tiebreaker in the first set of singles play on court four, Dion became MSU's first casualty of the afternoon, falling 7-6(4), 6-1 in a strenuous match against Lois Alexis.
On court five, the freshman Tran posted an impressive 6-2, 6-1 win over Morgan Taylor.
At No. 6, Petra Ferancova arguably had the day's most grueling match. After a seemingly effortless 6-1 first set, opponent Davis battled back to keep the second set neck and neck. Ferancova fell behind 4-3, but was able to break Davis and tie the set up at 4 all only to have Davis regain control and go up 5-4. Breaking back once again, Ferancova tied the match at 5-5. A true freshman, Feranova was then was able to maintain control for the remainder of the set and claim a 6-1, 7-5 victory.
Head Coach Daryl Greenan was pleased overall with his team's performance.
"The girls did a good job getting this win," Greenan said. "I feel like we got a little bit better at practice this week, and the girls did a good job following today's plan."
The Lady Bulldogs will be back in action on their home courts this Thursday, Feb. 16, as they take on ULM at 3 p.m. Follow the matches through twitter via @mstateWT, or find a link to live stats on hailstate.com.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 6, SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 1
Feb. 11, 2012 - Starkville, MS
DOUBLES -
1) Khrystyna Pavlyuk/Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Carlista Mohammed/Lois Alexis (SU) 8-4
2) Ekaterina Iakovleva/Naomi Tran (MSU) def. Morgan Taylor/Camara Davis (SU) 8-3
3) Roseline Dion/Petra Ferancova (MSU) def. Demetria Woods/Gabrielle Moore (SU) 8-5.
SINGLES -
1) Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Carlista Mohammed (SU) 6-1, 6-3
2) Ekaterina Iakovleva (MSU) def. Gabrielle Moore (SU) 6-0, 6-0
3) Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU) def. Demetria Woods (SU) 6-0, 6-2
4) Lois Alexis (SU) def. Roseline Dion (MSU) 7-6(4), 6-1
5) Naomi Tran (MSU) def. Morgan Taylor (MSU) 6-2, 6-1
6) Petra Ferancova (MSU) def. Camara Davis (SU) 6-1, 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3), Singles (1,2,3,5,4,6)
