By: by Mark Toma
DeLAND, Fla. – The women’s tennis team opens up the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Tennis Championship as the No. 5-seed and will play No. 4 Campbell in the first round on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.
Kennesaw State will be playing in its first A-Sun Championship and worked its way into the No. 5-seed after finishing the regular season with four wins in their last five matches including three consecutive conference wins.
“We are heading into the tournament with a great deal of confidence,” said head women’s coach Brandon Padgett. “We ended the conference season with three straight wins and are playing a good Campbell team who we played well earlier in the season.”
The Owls (12-11, 4-6 A-Sun) will look to reverse a 4-3 loss to the Camels (13-8, 6-4 A-Sun) in February at Buies Creek, N.C. in which blustery weather conditions impacted both squads.
“This is going to be a very competitive first round match,” said head coach Brandon Padgett. “Both teams are evenly matched and we are going to try and change the result of the first meeting we had back in February.”
The Camels edged the Owls in the first meeting between the teams with the help of a sweep in doubles and a split in singles as they handed Kennesaw State one of their three, 4-3, losses of the season.
In doubles, three competitive matches all went the way of Campbell. At the No. 1 doubles slot, Alena Sergeychick and Vera Shkundina dropped an 8-5 decision to Christina Brunet and Ana Surviladze.
Iesha Holton and Ayano Tanaka lost to Lisa Sutton and Borislava Nikolova while Mackenzie Swindall and Agatha Palider fell to Blanca Saenz and Anais Gomar.
Kennesaw State won at the bottom of the singles lineup as Agatha Palider, Ayana Tanaka and Therese Lagerkvist won at four, five and six. The top of the lineup saw Vera Shkundina, Morgan Carney and Mackenzie Swindall all fall in straight sets.
“Obviously the doubles point is going to be key for the match,” added Padgett. “We were close at times in the last meeting, but we have made some adjustments and we’re confident that those changes will give us an advantage early.”
The Owls will change up the doubles lineup for the tournament with Shkundina pairing with Tanaka at the No. 1 slot, Holton and Sergeychick are fresh off a win against UAB and will be the No. 2 position while Swindall and Carney will play at No. 3 doubles.
Campbell will go with the same three doubles teams, but will move their former No. 2 doubles team of Sutton and Nikolova up to the top doubles position.
In singles, Shkundina will battle Sutton in the No. 1 flight. Both players enter the match with a 6-4 singles record in conference play. Carney will play at No. 2 for the Owls and will meet Garcia, who is a solid No. 2 for the Camels.
Holton will play at No. 3 for the seventh time this season has a 3-3 record and will face Blanca Saenz who has a 5-2 record in the third position. Palider will put her undefeated singles mark on the line when she plays Nikolova at No. 4 and look to repeat the straight-set win she had in February. Palider has a 5-0 record in the No. 4 position this season.
Tanaka and Lagerkvist round out the Owls lineup. The No. 5 singles slot will feature Tanaka, playing her second match at No. 5, taking on Surviladze, who she defeated earlier in the year. Lagerkvist, who is quickly establishing herself as one of the top young players in the conference, is ranked fourth in the A-Sun at No. 6 singles. She will take her 17-5 singles record against Gomar, who is 2-4 at No. 6 singles.
The winner of the first round match between the Owls and the Camels will face top-seed East Tennessee State in the semifinals on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The winner of Stetson and Mercer will face the No. 2-seed North Florida in the other semifinal.
No. 5 Kennesaw State vs. No. 4 Campbell
A-Sun Championship - First Round
Doubles
1. Shkundina/Tanaka, 3-5 (KSU) vs. Sutton/Nikolova, 14-4 (CAM)
2. Holton/Sergeychick, 1-0 (KSU) vs. Garcia/Surviladze, 6-11 (CAM)
3. Swindall/Carney, 3-9 (KSU) vs. Saenz/Gomar, 10-8 (CAM)
Singles
1. Shkundina, 15-7 (KSU) vs. Sutton, 12-9 (CAM)
2. Carney, 8-9 (KSU) vs. Garcia, 9-10 (CAM)
3. Holton, 7-12 (KSU) vs. Saenz, 12-7 (CAM)
4. Palider, 14-4 (KSU) vs. Nikolova, 13-7 (CAM)
5. Tanaka, 5-11 (KSU) vs. Surviladze, 11-4 (CAM)
6. Lagerkvist, 17-5 (KSU) vs. Gomar, 8-12 (CAM)
