Bulldogs Fall 4-0 in Quarterfinals Against Winthrop

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The No. 6 seed UNC Asheville women's tennis team concluded its 2015 campaign with a 4-0 loss to the No. 3 seed Winthrop Eagles, on Thursday afternoon at the Asheville Racquet Club.

Asheville finished the year with a 13-8 overall record, the most wins for the program in a single-season since 2009-10. Winthrop (12-11) advances to the semifinals for the 17th consecutive season and will face the No. 2 seed, Coastal Carolina.

“I thought that we had a good shot at winning today,” said head coach Lise Gregory. “Winthrop played well, and we lost 4-0, but the three [singles] matches that were going on were really tight and I thought we had a shot at winning all three of those. The bottom line is that Winthrop beat us, they played really aggressive doubles and got in front early. I wish them all the best.”

The Bulldogs conceded the doubles point to Winthrop through losses at No. 2 and No. 1. Christine Boissevain and Lauren Brooker were beaten, 8-1, by Ekin Gunaysu and Tijana Uzelac on court two. After playing tight throughout much of the match, Emily McNall and Ericka Rivero fell, 8-5, at the top flight. The Eagles' Alice Garcia and Mariana Humberg strung together three consecutive points after the score was knotted at 5-5 to earn the win.

Winthrop wrapped up the match with singles victories on courts two, three and five. Humberg bested Amryn Soldier, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3, before Gunaysu knocked off Rivero 6-0, 6-3 on court two. The match ended on court five where Monica Aguado defeated Amalie Davidsen 6-0, 6-0.

Hunter Hall and Boissevain were leading their matches after winning the first set on courts six and four, respectively, when the match was clinched.

The match represented the final time for seniors Christine Boissevain, Emily McNall and Amryn Soldier to pull on the Blue & White. “They came in and had a really rough first year after our No. 1 and No. 2 players went down with bizarre injuries and got thrown into the fire as freshman playing one, two and three,” said Gregory of her three seniors. “The first year was a really rough year, but they stuck around and had really great careers. We went on to have three really good years with them, and there were a lot of great wins. They are the kind of people that you love being around and you hate to see them leave.”

The Big South women's championship will continue on Friday, with semifinal matches featuring No. 1 Charleston Southern vs. No. 4 Liberty at 10:00 a.m., following by No. 2 Coastal Carolina facing No. 3 Winthrop at 2:00 p.m. at the Asheville Racquet Club.