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BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State women’s tennis team concluded the 2012-13 season as the No. 6 seed Owls fell in an epic six-hour marathon match to No. 3 seed USC Upstate, 4-3, in a quarterfinal match at the 2013 Atlantic Sun Women’s Tennis Championships on Friday, April 19 at the Bristol Racquet Club.
Kennesaw State wraps its season with a 9-12 overall record and a 4-4 mark in conference play. USC Upstate improves to 14-7 on the season and will advance to face No. 2 seed North Florida at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 20.
With the match knotted at 3-3, sophomore
Tamara Plocher and Upstate’s Allison Beeler battled out the No. 5 singles match for nearly two hours. Plocher led by a set and was ahead 5-2 in the second, even earning match points in the set, but Beeler came back to win the next five games before winning the final set and the match, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
The Spartans opened the match by taking the doubles point with victories from No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, but the Owls did not give up without a fight. After an 8-1 loss to Beeler and Constanze Kuerten from freshman
Blaire LaSure and senior
Therese Lagerkvist on court three, sophomore
Virginie Stein and Plocher dropped a close 8-6 decision to Isabel von Stryk and Talia Rojas on court two. Junior
Alexandra Apostu and sophomore
Jana Hueckinghaus’s match at No. 1 doubles was left unfinished with Upstate’s Julie Bell and Taylor Cohen leading 8-7 when the point was decided.
The Owls evened the match at 1-1 as Stein, a 2013 A-Sun All-Conference First-Team honoree, ran away with her match at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-2 over von Stryk.
Shortly after Stein’s victory, Apostu, who joined the sophomore on the 2013 A-Sun All-Conference First-Team, added a second KSU point to the scoreboard with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Cohen on court three.
Lagerkvist then put Kennesaw State within a point of victory as she posted a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 win against Rojas at No. 4 singles in her now final match as an Owl.
The Owls looked as though they would advance in the Championship for the first time in program history as Hueckinghaus was leading in her match on court two, 6-2, 5-3, when Kuerten made a furious comeback, winning the next three games and a tiebreak, 7-5, before winning the third set at love and earning the 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 victory for the Spartans.
Freshman
Isabela Castro fell 6-1, 6-1 to Bell in her No. 6 singles match to make the outcome on court five the deciding factor of the match.
With the loss, the Owls bid farewell to Lagerkvist, but is scheduled to return the bulk of its lineup from this season in Apostu, Stein, Hueckinghaus, Plocher, Castro and LaSure.
Keep up with Owls women's tennis this year by following KSU on Twitter at @
KSUOwlNation and @
KSUWomensTennis or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on
Facebook.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
No. 3 USC Upstate 4, No. 6 Kennesaw State 3
Singles
1.
Virginie Stein (KSU) def. Isabel von Stryk (UPST) 6-0, 6-2
2. Constanze Kuerten (UPST) def.
Jana Hueckinghaus (KSU) 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0
3.
Alexandra Apostu (KSU) def. Taylor Cohen (UPST) 6-2, 6-1
4.
Therese Lagerkvist (KSU) def. Talia Rojas (UPST) 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
5. Allison Beeler (UPST) def.
Tamara Plocher (KSU) 3-6, 7-5, 7-5
6. Julie Bell (UPST) def.
Isabela Castro (KSU) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles
1. Julie Bell/Taylor Cohen (UPST) vs. Jana Hueckinghaus/Alexandra Apostu (KSU) 8-7, unfinished
2. Isabel von Stryk/Talia Rojas (UPST) def. Virginie Stein/Tamara Plocher (KSU) 8-6
3. Allison Beeler/Constanze Kuerten (UPST) def. Blaire LaSure/Therese Lagerkvist (KSU) 8-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (1,3,4,2,6,5)
