Thursday, April 15, 2010

DeLand, Fla. – Ana Surviladze of fourth-seeded Campbell rallied from a set down to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Kennesaw State’s Ayano Tanaka at #5 singles as the Camels survived a tough challenge from the fifth-seeded Owls to claim a 4-2 win in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Tennis Championships at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center on Thursday. Blanca Saenz won in singles and doubles for Campbell in a match that took nearly four hours to complete.

The Camels claimed the doubles point relatively quickly as Saenz and Anais Gomar thumped Mackenzie Swindall and Morgan Carney 8-2 at the #3 position and the #1 tandem of Lisa Sutton and Borislava Nikolova beat Tanaka and Vera Shkundina 8-3.

KSU would not go down without a fight in its first NCAA Division I postseason appearance, however, earning a pair of straight-set singles wins and forcing two others into a third set. Cristina Garcia extended Campbell’s lead to 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Carney on Court 2, but the Owls rallied for the tie with wins from Therese Lagerkvist (6-0, 6-1 over Gomar on Court 6) and Shkundina (6-1, 7-5 over Sutton on Court 1). Those victories were sandwiched around Saenz’s 6-2, 6-2 win over Iesha Holton on Court 3 that put the Camels one point away from advancing.

Surviladze and Nikolova each dropped the first set against Tanaka and Palider, respectively, but both won the second set to extend the final match of the quarterfinals beyond nightfall. Eventually it was Surviladze that put away her Owl opponent first for the win. Campbell has now reached the A-Sun semifinals three years in a row.

Tomorrow’s semifinals will see second-seeded UNF battle host third-seeded Stetson at 2 p.m. while top-seeded ETSU and the Camels will square off immediately following.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.