BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's tennis (14-5, 7-1 SBC) is just one win away from its first conference championship in school history after a 4-0 sweep over UTA (14-8, 5-3 SBC) on Friday afternoon at Deer Valley Racquet Club.
The Mountaineers have won their last seven matches at home and are 8-1 over the last nine contests. With a win on Sunday, the Mountaineers can claim the top seed in the Sun Belt Tournament and earn a share of the regular season league title if South Alabama beats Georgia State on Sunday.
"Any win in the Sun Belt is great because there's so much parody in the league," head coach
Blake Mosley said. "We worked really hard coming off last week and going into our final weekend. We want to finish strong going into the Sun Belt Tournament, so it was a great start."
App State wasted no time in doubles play, as it improved to 12-0 this season when it registers the doubles point.
Rebecca Morse and
Jeannez Daniel improved to 6-0 in league play and 7-1 overall after their 6-4 triumph over Lucia Natal and Alumdena Boza. The duo has won their last seven matches after Friday's victory.
Clinching the doubles point was
Heidi Swope and María José Zacarias, who defeated Nanaka Takeuchi and Liz Chileno in a 6-4 decision for their seventh win of the year.
Kate Earnhardt earned her fourth straight win despite the victory due to withdrawal (retirement) from her counterpart. Earnhardt is 9-8 on the season in singles play.
Teodora Sevo rolled to her ninth victory of the season in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 against Momoka Horiguchi to push the App lead to 3-0.
Sealing the Black and Gold's first conference shutout of the season was Zacarias, as she snapped a three-match skid after defeating Natal in straight sets. Zacarias won her first set, 6-4, and came back from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to upend her opponent.
The Mountaineers will face the Bobcats on Sunday at 10 a.m. in the last match of the regular season. App State will honor its three seniors in Daniel, Morse, and Swope before the match.
