Lady Pirates Capture Region Championship With 5-0 Win

SAVANNAH, Ga. (May 9) – The No. 2-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State women's tennis team earned its fourteenth straight trip to the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Round of 16 with a 5-0 victory over No. 11-ranked Clayton State on Friday afternoon at the AASU Tennis Complex.

The Lady Pirates (28-1) won all three doubles matches, but it took a while as a brief rain shower halted play in the doubles for an hour and 15 minutes. When play resumed, it took Iuliia Stupak and Gabriella Kovacs two points to cap an 8-0 win over Anna Redecsi and Julia Chergova at No. 1 doubles. Martina Beckmann and Alida Muller-Wehlau picked up an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles over Selma Hidass and Katie White, then Sofia Haggstrom and Alisa Kagukina won, 8-4, over Allison Evans and Viktoriya Semyrodenko at No. 3 doubles.

The Lakers (20-5) played the Pirates tight in singles - including a tense first-set at No. 1 singles in which Stupak outlasted Redecsi in a tiebreaker, 7-5 - but AASU clinched the match with Muller-Wehlau's 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 3 singles and Haggstrom's 6-1, 6-3 win over Kristina Jonutyte at No. 6 singles. AASU now faces Incarnate Word at 10:30 a.m. at Homer Ford Park in Houston in opening-round action on Wednesday.