Women’s Tennis
The Georgia State women’s tennis team has now played four matches and find themselves with a 1-3 record.
Their most recent loss came against Illinois on Jan. 28, which was the first match for them in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Panthers fought hard but was unable to secure a win from behind.
The 4-2 loss to Illinois sent the Panthers to 0-3 on the season. Despite the team’s defeat, Arina Taluyenko and Kristine Rehse were the bright spots for the Panthers. Taluyenko, a freshman from Kazakhstan, earned her second singles of the season in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4.
Rehse, on the other hand, secured a win of her own with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Illinois’ Louise Kwong.
Perhaps the Panthers can begin to put together a few wins as a team, being that they secured their first win against New Mexico on Jan. 29.
The Panthers swept New Mexico 4-0 with Arina Taluyenko, Lara Vovk and Kristin Rehse each earning singles victories to lead the Panthers (1-3) to an impressive win.
Unlike their recent matches, the Panthers got off to a hot start by taking two of three matches to earn the doubles point. Damira Muminović and Kristin Rehse were able to tie the knot in doubles play at 1-1 with a 6-2 victory against New Mexico’s Andrea LeBlanc and Diana Wong. Daniela Ramirez and Anastasia Grosheva cleaned up on the back end to make it 2-1 giving the Panthers the doubles point with a 6-4 verdict over Cassie Chung and Ruth Copas.
In singles play, Arina Taluyenko, Lara Vovk and Rehse each scored wins to carry Georgia State to the finish line.
The Panthers will look to build off of their first win on Feb. 10 when they travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals.
Track & Field
This weekend the Panthers are away in Birmingham, AL competing in the South Alabama Jaguar Invitational. The Panthers have placed just about middle of the pack or a little better in all of the individual events that they have competed in. Junior Nylah Chavis placed sixth in the high jump with a jump of (1.6m).
In the 1 mile run, three Panthers places in the top nine. Sophomore Lindsay Shealy placed 5th with a time of (5:08.14), freshman Lotte Meyburg placed seventh with a time of ( 5:13.30), and Junior Jordan Townsley finished 9th with a time of (5.17.30).
Four Panthers finished in the top-30 of the 400 meter dash, Sophomore Jahmee Reeves finished 14th with a time of (58.35), Junior Ashlan Rosier finished 18th with a time of (58.67), senior Tyler Watson finished 20th with a time of (58.78) and sophomore ifeoluwa Afon finished 30th with a time of (59.79).
Next week the Panthers will once again travel to Birmingham to compete in the Samford open.
Men’s Tennis
Georgia State fell to No. 24 Georgia Tech on Feb. 3, 4-1. Zack Kennedy lost to his childhood friend and professional teammate No. 9 Chris Eubanks in three sets in the No. 1 singles match.
The Panthers would bounce back the next day against North Florida, 4-2. Freshman Quentin Coulaud clinched the match for Georgia State. Kennedy, Andrei Andrukhou, Quentin Coulaud and Sebastian Acuna all won their singles matches in the home opener of the season. The Panthers came back from 2-0 at the beginning of the match to defeat the Osprey.
“North Florida is a really solid team and I’m proud that the guys bounced back from a tough doubles point loss,” Head Coach Brett Ross said in a press release. “We had our backs against the wall a little but the whole team fought back and showed some grit. These are the kind of matches that college tennis great.”
The team now stands at 5-2 on the season and will face Louisiana and South Alabama on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, respectively.
