The day before, Charlotte dropped the doubles point on their way to victory. Against East Tennessee State the Lady Niners opened the day by winning two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. But when it came down to the singles matches, they could not come up with the necessary three wins. Typically the team that takes the doubles point is well positioned to win the match, but based on the last two days you might say that theory may need a revision. The odds will always favor the team that earns the doubles point, but in the last three matches I've seen at Georgia Tech and Charlotte, the doubles point winner has gone on to lose the match.
On court one in singles, #74 ranked Yevgeniya Stupak of East Tennessee defeated Ana Spivakovsky in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). Spivakovsky fell behind a break early in the first set but came back to even it up, but she could not take advantage in the tie break. In the second set she jumped up a break early but Stupak broke her back shortly after and this one was even until they reached a tie break.
On court two, Yudeshnee Pillay of Charlotte breezed through her opponent, Tara Byrne, 6-2, 6-1. On court six, Kimber Redfern of Charlotte once again dominated her opponent and won it easily, 6-1, 6-0. That made it two days in a row that Redfern won her match in a rout. While she doesn't hit a lot of big balls, she gets a lot of balls back and she moves her opponents around the court consistently. It's a formula that has served her well these last two days.
The match came down to court four, where the 49ers' Andrea Rivera took the first set on Buccaneers freshman Paula Jamie from Madrid, Spain, 7-5. Jamie plays with a two-handed forehand and backhand and has very consistent strokes. After she won the second set, Jamie was broken in the first game of the third set. She quickly broke back and then held at 2-1. She was moving Rivera around the court and Rivera was not able to keep her strokes in play. Jamie went on to win the third set 6-3 and clinch the match for East Tennessee.
The loss dropped Charlotte to 9-4 on the season and I later found out it was their first loss at home this season. East Tennessee State, who plays in the Atlantic Sun conference, raised their record to 7-4. It was a tough loss for Charlotte as their only singles wins came at the two and six positions. To win those close matches, you have to be able to win at four, five and six. Maybe next time.
Time.
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