Women's Tennis Closes Out Regular Season This Week
4/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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UPCOMING MATCHES: The Lady Chanticleers will close out the regular season with two Big South Conference matches this week. CCU will first travel to Charleston Southern (3-7, 3-2) for a 2:30 p.m. match Wed., April 5. The Lady Chants will then travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to take on Big South rival Winthrop (10-8, 5-0) Fri., April 7 at 2:30 p.m.
SERIES WITH CHARLESTON SOUTHERN: Coastal has defeated Charleston Southern the past three years. During the 2005 season, CCU had a 6-1 victory over CSU. Charleston Southern defeated Radford, 5-2, Saturday, April 1.
SERIES WITH WINTHROP: Winthrop leads the series with Coastal, 6-0, for the past three seasons. During the 2005 season, CCU fell in the regular season to the Eagles, 2-5 followed by a 0-4 loss in the finals of the Big South Conference tournament. The Eagles defeated Georgia Southern, 7-0, Sunday, April 2.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP: Senior Petra Jantti has 77 career singles wins, holding the fourth spot on CCU's all-time list. Virginie Dinh has 55 total singles wins, tied for eighth on CCU's all-time list,
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Petra Jantti is now third on CCU's all-time list with 89 wins, three wins behind Marie Matrka. Virginie Dinh holds the sixth spot with 63 doubles wins, one behind Lara Lendenmann.
FIFTH BIG SOUTH WIN: Coastal Carolina’s women’s tennis team (19-2, 5-0) defeated Big South rival Radford (7-10, 1-4), 7-0 Sunday, April 2 on Senior Day at Billy Nichols Tennis Center.
CCU swept the doubles matches, started off by an 8-2 win by senior Virginie Dinh and Hayley Rudman at number one doubles. Senior Petra Jantti and sophomore Amy Pazahanick defeated Camilla Noldin and Ashton Downs in the number two doubles, 8-4. Senior Rosemary Younger and junior Sarize Coetzee defeated Antonietta Iosue and Alexandra Spector at number three doubles, 8-4.
Pazahanick recorded her 17th singles win of the season with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in singles over Cassandra Price. Jantti brought a singles win as she defeated Noldin, 6-1, 6-1. Rudman, Coetzee, junior Nicole Lemmerer and sophomore Sofie Ahlberg also scored singles wins for CCU.
FALLING TO UAB: Coastal Carolina women’s tennis (18-2) fell to Alabama-Birmingham 6-1 on Wednesday, March 29 for their first home loss of the season at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center.
UAB won two of the three doubles matches including a close 9-8 victory by Gulsah Esen and Ornischa Maier-Knapp over CCU’s number two doubles team, Sofie Ahlberg and Sarize Coetzee. Petra Jantti and Amy Pazahanick were defeated, 8-6 in the number one doubles match. Hayley Rudman and Nicole Lemmerer won the third double match, 8-4.
Ahlberg was the only Lady Chanticleer to win in singles play with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Annemieke Elsholz. Pazahanick lost her first singles match of the season playing in the fourth seed, 3-6, 3-6.
SENIOR DAY FOR THE LADY CHANTICLEERS: Coastal Carolina’s women’s tennis celebrated Senior Day Sunday, April 2 at 1 p.m., as it faced Big South rival Radford in its last home match. The Lady Chanticleers have three seniors on the 2006 squad including Virginie Dinh, Petra Jantti and Rosemary Younger.
"This group of seniors has taken our program to a new level," head coach Jody Davis said, "All three of these athletes have made valuable contributions to our program. We are very proud that these players will all graduate in May and hopefully their memories of Coastal and their experiences with our team will be favorable for many years to come."
Jantti has been a member of CCU’s tennis squad since the 2002-2003 season, where she went 11-3 in singles and 5-2 in doubles. During the 2004 season, Jantti had an 18-3 singles record, including a 6-1 Big South Conference record, and a 17-5 doubles mark. During the 2005 season, Jantti finished with an overall singles record of 12-6 (6-1 in Big South play) and finished with a 10-8 (4-1) doubles record. Jantti was named to the All-Big South Conference in singles. She is currently fourth on CCU’s all-time list in singles with 76 wins and third on the doubles list with 88 victories.
"Petra is very competitive and is always giving a hundred percent in everything she does." Davis commented. "Her work ethic is unmatched and she is constantly trying to improve."
Younger is a native of Marist, Ga., she has been a member of the Lady Chanticleers tennis team since the 2002-2003 season. She finished her first season of collegiate tennis with an 11-7 singles record and 8-9 in doubles. During the 2005 season, she finished with a 3-1 (1-0) record in singles and 14-7 (5-0) doubles record. For the 2006 season, Younger is 2-1 in singles and 1-0 in doubles.
"Rosemary has done a wonderful job for our program," Davis continued. "She has provided us with gritty performances on many occasions. Her opponents have always underestimated her ability and she has always given a great effort."
Dinh has been a member of the Lady Chants’ tennis program since the 2003-2004 season. During the 2005 season, Dinh went on a 10-match winning streak in singles, including five Big South matches. She finished the 2005 season with a 17-3 doubles record and a 17-3 singles record. She was named to the All-Big South Conference doubles team. For 2006, Dinh has recorded 15 doubles wins and nine singles wins. Dinh currently holds the sixth position on CCU’s all-time records in doubles with 62 wins and tied for the eighth in singles with 55 wins.
"Virginie is one of the best doubles players we have ever had in our program and she will be missed in our lineup next year," Davis stated. "She has contributed to many of the good wins our program has experienced."
COASTAL PICKED SECOND IN BIG SOUTH POLL: Coastal Carolina’s women’s tennis team received 107 points, including three first-place votes, to grab the second spot in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll, the conference office announced Thursday, Jan. 19. Winthrop finished first with 13 first-place votes and a total of 125 points. The Lady Chanticleers are coming off a season where they finished 17-6 overall, including 6-1 in the Big South Conference, and advanced to the Big South Tournament Finals. The 2006 squad returns six letterwinners including senior Petra Jantti and adds two transfers, junior Hayley Rudman from Mississippi State and sophomore Amy Pazahanick from Georgia Southern. The 2006 Big South Women’s Tennis Preseason Poll is voted upon by the conference’s head coaches and sports information directors.
2006 PREVIEW: After another second place finish in the Big South, the Coastal Carolina women’s tennis team looks for more in 2006. With the graduation of Marie Matrka, last year’s Big South Conference Player of the Year, the 2006 edition of the Lady Chanticleers will have large shoes to fill. The positive side is that there are six players returning from last year’s 18-5 squad. The runner-up finish in the conference tournament should provide plenty of motivation for this 2005-06 squad.
"Our lineup this spring could have many faces in different places," Coastal head coach Jody Davis said. "We will be looking at many different combinations early in the spring, and hopefully by April, our lineup will be solid with great depth."
Seniors Virginie Dinh and Petra Jantti should play near the top of the lineup. Both of these seniors will be relied on to use their match previous match experience to help lead the team during the spring. The other lone senior, Rosemary Younger, will provide valuable help in the doubles lineup and will play in some singles matches as well.
"Both Virginie and Petra made all-conference last year," Davis said. "If they can repeat that performance again this year, it will make us a much stronger team."
Juniors Sarize Coetzee and Nicole Lemmerer will use their experience to help the Lady Chants fight for the Conference title. Sophomore Sofie Ahlberg was voted the Big South Rookie of the Year last year, playing mainly at the fourth position in the lineup. This year, she could move up and be another key to Coastal’s success.
"Sarize will play a very important role on our team this year in that we are counting on our positions 3-6 to bring home many wins in these upcoming dual matches," Davis commented. "Nicole has improved all fall and I really expect her to continue this through the spring season.
"Sofie had a great fall and really produced some quality wins," Davis continued. "We are really looking for some big things out of her this spring."
Two transfers will add even more depth to the roster. Junior Hayley Rudman, a transfer from Mississippi State, will play in the middle to top half of the lineup and her experience of playing in the Southeastern Conference should bring more toughness to this team for the spring. Sophomore Amy Pazahanick played last season at Georgia Southern and could be a significant force this fall.
"This is by far the deepest team I have ever coached," Davis concluded. "Hopefully, we can peak at the right time and bring home the Big South Conference championship."
The Lady Chants open at Billy Nichols Center Feb. 4 with matches against Savannah State and Newberry. CCU will host 17 home matches during the season. Not only will Coastal battle in the highly-competitive Big South, they will also face other solid programs such as Memphis, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Binghamton, Bucknell, Appalachian State, and East Carolina.
