14th-ranked North Georgia claims 5-2 win over Pioneers

Valentina Loretz earned wins in singles and doubles for the Pioneers against North Georgia (photo by Chuck Williams)
Valentina Loretz earned wins in singles and doubles for the Pioneers against North Georgia (photo by Chuck Williams)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The University of North Georgia won five of six singles matches to earn a 5-2 victory over Tusculum University in non-conference women's tennis action Friday afternoon at the Nichols Tennis Complex.

The 14th-ranked Nighthawks (10-2) fell behind 1-0 after doubles, but won three straight in singles to take the lead for good over the Pioneers (8-4). All five singles wins for North Georgia came in straight sets.

Tusculum came back to earn the doubles points after North Georgia won the first completed match at flight two. Valentina Loretz and Emilie Hansen beat Anna Markvartova and Rafaella Villanueva 6-3 at flight three, and Elodie Baechler teamed with Tabitha Howe for a 6-4 victory at flight one over Vaishali Jorge and Claudelle Labonte Frey to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead in the match.

Behind nationally-ranked singles players Jorge (74th) at flight one and Markvartova (44th) at flight two, the Nighthawks won the top three flights to go ahead 3-1 over the Pioneers. Valentina Loretz gave the Pioneers their lone singles win with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Cibeles Zuddy at flight five, but Frey and Villanueva closed out the match with wins at flight four and six, respectively.

Tusculum will face its second straight ranked opponent on Sunday when 11th-ranked Queens visits the Nichols Tennis Complex for a 10 a.m. South Atlantic Conference match. The Royals are 5-0 in the conference, joining Lenoir-Rhyne (6-0) and Carson-Newman (4-0) as unbeaten teams in SAC play. Tusculum is 3-2 in the SAC and in sixth place heading into Sunday's contest.