Winthrop Roundup: Tennis continues strong play with 5-2 win over Campbell

The Winthrop women’s tennis team stretched its Big South Conference record to 5-1 when it traveled to Campbell and came out victorious 5-2 on Saturday afternoon.

Winthrop was able to jump out to an early lead when it won the doubles competition. No. 1 Alice Garcia and Mariana Humberg continued their strong play with an 8-6 victory over Maud Mrad and Tamara Stanic. The No. 2 combo of Tijana Uzelac and Ekin Gunaysu clinched the doubles point for Winthrop by defeating Irina Karangozishvili and Ana Maria Ortiz 8-2. Campbell won the No. 3 doubles slot when Georgina Segarra and Claudia Ortiz won 8-3 over Winthrop’s Monica Aguado and Camille Amrani.

The Eagles took the first three singles positions, clinching the match. No. 1 Garcia bested Segarra 6-1, 6-2. No. 2 Gunaysu beat Stanic 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (5). No. 3 Humberg topped Karangozishvili 6-3, 6-4. Campbell took the No. 4 position with No. 4 Uzelac falling to Mrad 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. No. 5 Aguado won in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 over A. Ortiz. The afternoon’s action was wrapped up with No. 6 Amrani losing to Camila Valencia 6-3, 6-2.

The Eagles, 9-10, will look to continue to stay atop the conference standings when they host Liberty at 11 a.m. Friday at Winthrop Memorial Tennis Courts.

Five school records fell during this weekend’s Winthrop Adidas Track & Field Invitational that concluded Saturday at Irwin Belk Track Complex.

Saturday’s action was highlighted by senior sprinter Carlo Raiteri’s record-breaking performance in the 200 meters. Raiteri covered the 200 meters in a time of 21.32 to break the standard of 21.38 set in 2003 by Joe Hall.

On Friday, four Winthrop school records, including three by freshmen, were set as Quemell Brave broke the school mark in the men’s long jump with a leap of 7.01 meters that bettered the previous record of 6.91 meters set in 2013 by Winthrop senior Gary Donald.

Cullen Barringer set a record in the men’s decathlon by scoring 5,204 points and finished fifth. The previous record was held by Chris Ariail who had 4,174 points in 2008. The other record was set by Taryn DeLeon, a heptathlon athlete, who set a new mark in the women’s high jump with a leap of 1.64 meters, breaking a 13-year-old record held by Cecilia Wolff of 1.63 meters in 2002.

On the final day of competition, senior hurdler Alesha Love captured first place in the 400 meter hurdles, and men’s throws athlete Mike Hajduk won the javelin to lead the Eagle men and women. Love, a junior from Columbia, SC, covered the 400mH with a top time of 1:01.56 and also finished third in the 100 meter hurdles as she ran a time of 14.29 seconds. Hajduk had a throw of 54.90 meters to take the javelin. Brave had a leap of 2.05 meters as he tied for the best jump, but finished in second place based on misses.

Winthrop’s women also had a third place finish by senior Shalace Rose in the 400 meter dash with a time of 57.70 seconds. Freshman thrower Tori Waddington claimed fourth in the women’s javelin with a toss of 36.88 meters. The women’s 4x400 meter relay team captured second place in a time of 3:59.55, while the 4x100 relay squad was third with a clocking of 46.68 seconds.

In other top performances by the Winthrop men, sophomore Jake Roberts earned second place in the discus with a throw of 45.33 meters. Freshman Kevin Mills was third in the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:01.64. Senior Andrew Chavous placed third in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.60. Freshman thrower Preston Elwell finished third in the javelin competition with a throw of 53.18, and sophomore Jordan Jackson took fourth place in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 55.30 seconds.

“We had a really good weekend,” said Winthrop coach Ben Paxton, following the conclusion of the largest turnout of schools and athletes in the history of the event. Forty schools, comprising 78 men’s and women’s teams and nearly 1,500 athletes competed over the weekend. “It was very good to see Marthaline (Cooper) and Alesha (Love) advance up the national rankings, and Mike Hajduk enjoyed a great weekend as well in the javelin. We are trying to position ourselves to perform well at conference and to advance to the NCAA first round in Jacksonville in late May.”

Winthrop suffered a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Coastal Carolina with losses of 6-0 and 5-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Winthrop has lost five straight and falls to 12-19 on the year and 1-5 in the Big South. Coastal Carolina improves to 18-15 overall and 6-2 in the conference.

In the second game of the twin bill, the Chanticleers got all the runs they needed in the third inning as Annie Robinson provided a one-out RBI double followed by an RBI single by Kory Hayden. Coastal added three runs in the fourth inning courtesy of a three-run homer by Sara Rasley to left field.

Winthrop had a chance to jump on the Chanticleers in the first inning when Paige Haley singled with two outs and then stole second, getting into scoring position. But Kelsey Dominik got Kristy Noble to pop out to second. In the fourth inning, the Eagles missed another opportunity after Haley led off with a double to right. Dominik then got back-to-back ground-outs and a strikeout to keep the Eagles off the board.

Dallas King started the game in the circle and suffered the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Sutton Watson relieved King in the fourth and tossed 2.2 innings of no-hit ball with two strikeouts.

Kelsey Dominik held the Eagles to four hits as she tossed a complete game shutout with three walks and six strikeouts to improve to 7-4.

In the first game, Morgan Noad hit two home runs to lead the Chanticleers. She led off the second inning with a solo shot to right on a 2-2 pitch, and was back up in the third inning with two outs when she hit a two-run shot to left for a 3-0 lead. She also added an RBI single in the fifth for her fourth RBI on the day.

Kiana Quloas helped her own cause in the fifth inning with an RBI single to right after Briana Chiusano led off the inning with a walk. Chiusano stole second and moved to third on a throwing error from Paige Haley before scoring on the single by Quolas.

Coastal got the leadoff runner on base in the second through fifth innings and took advantage of it.

Winthrop had a runner on in each of the first four innings but couldn’t get the hit it needed to drive in a run. One of the best chances came in the fourth when Leah Young reached on an error and stole second with one out. However, Quolas struck out Haley Zuehlke followed by a ground out from Jessica Roth to end the threat.

Allen suffered the loss. She allowed five runs on five hits with three walks and a strikeout. Watson tossed two innings of relief, allowing one run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts.

Quolas tossed her second straight complete game against the Eagles, earning a victory with a four-hit shutout with a walk and seven strikeouts to improve to 10-9.

Haley finished the day 2-for-5, reaching base four times and getting two stolen bases as well. Sophomore Maddie Antone, the team’s top batter and team leader in runs and RBIs, did not play in the series and has missed six straight games.

Winthrop stranded 12 runners and on five occasions hit into a fielder’s choice that got the lead runner out at second.

The Eagles will try to end their losing streak on Wednesday when they travel to Boiling Springs, N.C., for a doubleheader at Gardner-Webb beginning at 4 p.m.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Winthrop Roundup: Tennis continues strong play with 5-2 win over Campbell."