ATLANTA--The No. 70-ranked Georgia State women's
tennis team dispatched No. 72 Syracuse with a 5-2 victory on Saturday afternoon
at the Blackburn Tennis Center.
Sophomore
Chaimaa Roudami clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-2, victory at No. 5 singles to
cap a dominating day for the Panthers (1-0). The win was Georgia State's fourth
vs. a nationally-ranked opponent in the last two seasons.
GSU
now turns its attention to the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event beginning next
weekend in Athens, Ga. It is the second-consecutive season GSU will compete in
the event. The Panthers will take on No. 40-ranked Oklahoma State on Sunday
before playing No. 6 Georgia or No. 73 Columbia on Monday.
Freshman
Linn Timmermann won the first singles match of her collegiate career, a 6-1,
6-4, victory against Jimena Wu at the No. 4 singles position. Graduate student Jocelyn
Ffriend also won her first match as a member of Georgia State with a 6-1, 6-3,
victory at No. 6 singles against Alex Aiello.
The
Panthers started the match strong by taking the doubles point vs. Syracuse
(0-3). Junior Abigail Tere-Apisah and sophomore Masa Grgan, the No. 19-ranked
doubles tandem in the ITA National Doubles rankings, easily won an 8-1 match at
No. 1 doubles. Senior Whitney Byrd paired with classmate Maryna Kozachenko to
earn an 8-2 victory at the No. 2 position to clinch the doubles point.
Tere-Apisah,
the No. 29-ranked player in the ITA National Singles rankings, cruised to a
7-5, 6-2, victory against Syracuse's Maddie Kobelt.
Live
stats for Georgia State's matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend will be online
courtesy of georgiadogs.com. Visit the women's tennis page on
GeorgiaStateSports.com for a preview of the matches.
#70 Georgia State 5,
#72 Syracuse University 2
Singles competition
1. #29 Abigail
Tere-Apisah (GSU) def. Kobelt, Maddie (SU) 7-5, 6-2
2. Safdar, Komal (SU)
def. Masa Grgan (GSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
3. Rodgers, Amanda
(SU) def. Whitney Byrd (GSU) 6-3, 3-2, retired
4. Linn Timmermann
(GSU) def. Wu, Jimena (SU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Chaimaa Roudami
(GSU) def. Dzulynsky, Sophia (SU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Jocelyn Ffriend
(GSU) def. Aiello, Alex (SU) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #19 Abigail
Tere-Apisah/Masa Grgan (GSU) def. Kobelt, Maddie/Dzulynsky, Sophia (SU) 8-1
2. Whitney
Byrd/Maryna Kozachenko (GSU) def. Marrow, Aleah/Wu, Jimena (SU) 8-2
3. Rodgers, Amanda/Safdar, Komal (SU) def. Jocelyn Ffriend/Linn Timmermann
(GSU) 8-4
