Tennis Rallies Against Top Teams in the South

CLEMSON, Sc - The Brenau University tennis team competed in the Duckworth Fall Tennis Classic, hosted by Clemson University, for the second year in a row. Nine colleges from Georgia and South Carolina, most of whom were NCAA Division I and II schools were represented at the Classic. Eight flights were established for singles play, and four for doubles. The brackets were set up to maximize the number of matches each player would play and to determine the order of finish for each flight.

Friday was dedicated to doubles play with each match being decided by a pro set. The Golden Tigers' doubles teams were made up of Lyn See Choo (Kuching, Malaysia) and Hannah Thompson (England) at the No. 1 spot; Maria Medina (Canary Island, Spain) and Theresa Neumeyr (Germany) at No. 2; Eline Nagels (Antwerp, Belgium) and Stephanie Moniz (London, England) at No. 3.

All three Brenau teams won their opening matches: Choo/Thompson in a hard fought match against Mercer finished with a tie-break at 9-8. Medina/Neumeyr played a strong match and beat Georgia Southern 8-3, while Nagels/Moniz also won in a tie-break against Kennesaw State 9-7.

Choo/Thompson lost their second round match to a strong Armstrong Atlantic State, and then finished the day by putting down an aggressive team from UT at Chattanooga. Medina/Neumeyr, lost the next two matches to UT at Chattanooga and Georgia Southern. Nagels/Moniz represented the Golden Tigers in great form, as they picked up wins over Kennesaw State and UT at Martin, and then lost to a solid team from Georgia Southern. Brenau played excellent doubles with Choo/Thompson finishing third in their flight, Medina/Neumeyr finishing fourth in theirs, and Nagles/Moniz placing second in their flight.

The singles brackets began at 9am on Saturday. Choo lost in the opening round 6-2, 6-2, to the eventual flight winner from Kennesaw State; however, she recouped in the following match against Georgia Southern, winning soundly at 6-1, 6-2. She finished the classic by completing the consolation bracket, when besting a Georgia Perimeter challenger, 6-2, 6-3 and placing fifth in her flight.

Medina overcame a first set loss to beat her Georgia Southern opponent 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, and then lost to the semi-finalist from Charleston Southern by 6-3, 6-1. Medina completed the tournament by losing to a strong UTC player at 6-3, 6-1 to finish fourth in her flight.

Freshman Neumeyr had a very tough draw by facing the eventual winner of the flight from Armstrong Atlantic State and lost to her 6-1, 6-0, and then played the winner of the consolation bracket and lost by 6-0, 6-2. She finished with a strong match against Georgia Southern, winning 6-3, 6-1 and finishing seventh in her flight.

Thompson played a great match against Georgia Southern in the opening round winning 6-2, 6-2. The next round found her up against the flight winner from AASU and on the wrong side of a 6-1, 6-0 score. Thompson finished well by taking out a strong Charleston Southern opponent 6-4, 6-4 with a third place flight finish.

As for Nagels, she played and lost to the winner of the flight in a strong match by a score of 1-6, 6-1, 4-6. She finished the tournament by completing wins over UTC 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 and over UTM the following day 6-3, 6-3 to finish fifth in her flight.

Moniz played a challenger from Anderson College and won a tight match 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 in her opening match, but had to retire from the second round when she rolled her ankle over and needed to seek medical treatment.

When looking back over the weekend's event, Head Coach Andre Ferreira stated, "It was a good tournament and the level was very high. It was a great experience for our players as they competed against six different Division I programs, one Division II school, and a Junior College team. It shows that we can keep up with teams at any level and I look forward to seeing this talented team in action, during the season."