#43 COBRAS FALL IN SAC SEMIS TO #6 CATAWBA

Sumter, SC - A great run for Coker Women's Tennis comes to an end in the South Atlantic Conference semifinals as the Cobras fall 4-2 to the Catawba Indians.

By The Numbers

Final Score: #6 Catawba 4, #43 Coker 2
Records: #43 Coker 14-7 (10-4 SAC), #6 Catawba 22-0 (14-0 SAC)
Location: Sumter, SC | Palmetto Tennis Center

Full Results

Doubles:

Jade Bellegy / Emerson Banning: 7-6 (5) win
Tamara Macias / Ilona Hernandez-Sanchez: 2-6 loss
Caroline Myers / Salomé Sierra: 7-6 (5) win

Singles:

Bellegy: 6-4, 6-1 win
Hernandez-Sanchez: 4-6, 0-6 loss
Banning: 0-6, 0-6 loss
Sierra: 2-6, 3-5 unfinished
Macias: 0-6, 4-6 loss
Myers: 3-6, 2-6 loss

How It Happened

It was quite the dramatic start to the match with the doubles point. The first court off was Court 2 with a win for the Catawba Indians, putting them in the driver's seat. However, it was a grind on the other courts. On Court 1, Banning and Bellegy were down 4-5 and again at 5-6, but a win there took the Cobras to a tiebreak to try and even things up. Then, down 4-5 in the seven-point set tiebreak, they won the last three points to take the match at 7-6 (5) and even things up.

Court 3 was much of the same, except Myers and Sierra were up 5-4 when Catawba took the next two games to have them down 5-6. After pulling through in the last game to even it up at 6-6, they too were headed to a tiebreak. As fate would have it, they found themselves in the same situation as Banning and Bellegy, down 4-5 in the tiebreak. As the saying goes, "history repeats itself" and the Cobras again took the next three points in a dramatic win to head up 1-0 going into singles play.

During singles play, the Catawba Indians were off to a hot start. When all was said and done, Catawba clinched the match at 4-2 with four singles wins. Other than doubles, the point came from Bellegy who rolled in straight sets to defeat her opponent on Court 1.

Notables

• Results-wise, this has been the best season that Coker Women's Tennis has ever experienced. They had their first-ever ranked singles player, ranked doubles pair, national ranking, and SAC Quarterfinal win.
• Bellegy's 6-4, 6-1 straight-sets win on Court 1 was against the SAC Player of the Year from Catawba, showing that her name truly deserved to be in that conversation

Up Next

The Cobras were recently hamed as a top-ten team in the Southeast Regional. They will now await the results of other conference tournaments before the eight teams that qualify are officially announced. Stay tuned to see if the Cobras' season moves on!