In a portion of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Kickoff from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Georgia State women’s tennis split its weekend pair of matches. The Panthers were defeated by Maryland on Saturday but earned a victory over the Elon University Phoenix on Sunday.
Saturday–loss to Maryland
Singles
The Panthers were swept in singles competition by the Terrapins. Georgia State junior Niri Rasolomalala suffered a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Maryland’s Alexandra Stanova in a match that lasted nearly an hour. The Panthers’ Linn Timmerman would battle the Terrapins’ Nataliya Bredikhina for over an hour, but also would lose in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Freshman Georgia State tennis player Veronika Golanova lost to Welma Luus of Maryland, 6-4, 6-0 in a match that lasted just over an hour.
Doubles
Georgia State’s Timmerman and Tarani Kamoe lost 3-6 to Luus and Bredikhina of Maryland in a match that lasted 29 minutes. It took a half hour for the match between the Panthers’ Rasolomalala and Kristin Rehse and the Terrapins’ Stanova and Olivia Gaudreault to conclude, resulting in a 6-4 victory for Georgia State.
Maryland clinched the victory over the Panthers with a 6-2 win by Ekaterina Tour and Kristina Hovsepyan over Golanova and Masa Grgan of Georgia State.
Sunday–win over Elon
Singles
The Panthers bounced back from their defeat to Maryland with a win over the Elon Phoenix on Sunday. Rasolomalala notched a straight set win over Elon’s Kirsten Ward, 6-3, 6-3. Rehse earned a 6-2, 6-2 win over Barbora Lazarova in the No. 3 match of the day. Georgia State sealed the victory over the Phoenix with a straight set, 6-2, 6-2 win by senior Chaimaa Roudami over Kamilla Beisenova.
Doubles
In doubles, Kamoe and Timmerman combined to earn a 6-4 victory over Elon’s Lazarova and Maria Camara Ruiz. Rasolomalala and Rehse also tacked on another Panthers victory with a 6-3 win over the Phoenix’s Olivia Lucas and Taylor Casey. The No. 3 match between Georgia State’s Grgan and Golanova and Elon’s Beisenova and Erica Braschi went unfinished.
Next Matches
Women’s tennis next matchup is Friday Friday against Middle Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. Matches will split between Piedmont Park and the Life Time Athletic Tennis Peachtree Corners courts in Norcross, Georgia.
The two sites will also play host to Georgia State’s Saturday matchup vs. Louisiana Tech beginning at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday, the team faces Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) at 8 a.m. at the Atlanta Athletic Club and Piedmont Park.
