Women's Tennis tops St. Mary's, JMU
Long after most of the Women's Tennis team had finished its singles matches on a blustery Sunday afternoon, senior Kristina Georgieva was still pounding away in a tight second set. But she finally put away her opponent to lock up a sweeping 7-0 victory for AU (8-6) over visiting Mount St. Mary's (1-5).
The win capped off an undefeated weekend for the Eagles, who also topped James Madison University (7-3), 5-2, on the road Saturday. They have now won four matches in a row.
Georgieva, AU's top singles player, won sets 6-1 and 6-2 as she strung together four consecutive match victories for the second time this season.
Senior Katarina Kollarova, playing at the No. 2 spot, sped to a swift pair of 6-0 wins for her singles victory.
Freshmen Sasha Zerkalova, Julia Colarusso, Ashley Wroten and Rachael Honig also contributed to the singles sweep, in which the Eagles never lost a set.
The Eagles also made short work of the Mount in doubles play as the pairs of Georgieva and Kollarova and Zerkalova and Colarusso both won 8-0. The freshman tandem of Honig and Wroten rounded out doubles action with an 8-3 win.
Saturday at JMU, AU also swept doubles play and won four matches in tight singles play. Colarusso was pushed nearly to the limit as she grinded out two 7-5 set wins. Zerkalova was not as fortunate as she opened with a 6-2 win, but lost the next two to drop the match.
AU hosts Howard Thursday before getting into the heart of the Patriot League season. The Eagles, who lost to Army 4-3 in the conference opener Feb. 7, play four conference matches over the next two weekends. AU finished third in the PL last spring before losing to Army in the championship match.
- KEVIN HILGERS
Golf team finishes in fifth place
The AU Men's Golf team rounded out its trip to Hawaii by finishing in fifth place in the Kauai Collegiate Cup. The Eagles fired a team score of 301 in the final round to finish with a combined three-round total of 909, which was 20 strokes out of the lead.
The Eagles were led by an incredible performance by junior Phillip Kief, who carded a low round 71 on the final day to finish with a combined score of 216 (E). Kief finished the tournament in third place and was one of only three players to record a score at or below even par.
The Eagles also had a strong performance from freshman Todd Shagin, whose second-round 71 tied him for the second lowest score of the day. British Columbia University's Blake Rowe-Sleeman won the tournament with a three-round total of 213 (-3), and Canada's Simon Fraser University earned the team victory by shooting a combined score of 889.
- DAVID BERGMAN
