Jan. 21, 2014
San José, Calif. --- Two singles matches went into the match tiebreaker as the San José State University women's tennis team defeated Sacramento State 4-3, improving its dual season record to 2-1.
Despite losing the doubles point against the Hornets, Marie Klocker and Jessica Willett each won in straight sets giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead.
Klocker, a freshman from Mulhouse, France, won her first singles match of the dual match season as she topped Sacramento State's Deimante Bulatovaite, 6-2; 6-1. Willett finished second as she defeated Sophie Lohscheidt, 6-1; 6-3.
"It was my first win and I thought I did a good job," said Klocker about her performance playing number-two singles. "I needed to win and I played the right way and it worked. Playing in this bracket is really hard and winning these types of games makes us stronger."
Freshman Gaelle Rey went into the match tiebreaker after beating Alina Soltanici,7-6 in the first set, and falling in the second set, 5-7. Rey was able to fight back and defeated Savenchenko in the match tiebreaker, 10-8.
Junior Julianna Bacelar sealed the win for San José state after defeating Sacramento State's Daria Savechenko, 7-6(2), 2-6, 11-9 (match tiebreaker).
"It was a great fight and a great team performance," said head coach Sylvain Malroux about the win.
"It was the most courageous and it was probably the best fight we have seen this season. I am glad they did this because then they realize that they don't have to play amazingly well every match but they have to play a little bit better than their opponent, and today they did a good job doing this."
"Even though they lost the doubles point, they did a very good job coming back in singles and winning." concluded Sylvain.
The Spartans travel to College Station, Texas, for the ITA Kickoff featuring 16 of the top teams in the nation at four different sites. On January 25, they go up against DePaul. The match begins at 10:00 a.m. (CT). The winner of the match will play either Mississippi State or host Texas A&M on January 26.
| Doubles | |
Marie Klocker / Sabastiani Leon Chao (SJSU) def. Daria Savechenko/Deimante Bulatovaite (Sac State) | 6-3 |
| Sophie Lohscheidt/ Olivia Boija (Sac Sate) def. Jessica Willett / Gaelle Rey (SJSU) | 6-4 |
Katharina Knoebl/Alina Soltanici (Sac State) def. Julianna Bacelar / Justine Deleval (SJSU) | 6-4 |
| Singles | |
| Jennifer Nguyen (Sac State) def. Sabastiani Leon Chao (SJSU) | 6-3; 6-4 |
| Marie Klocker (SJSU) def. Deimante Bulatovaite (Sac State) | 6-2 6-1 |
| Gaelle Rey (SJSU) def. Alina Soltanici (Sac State) | 7-6(4); 5-7; 10-8 |
| Julianna Bacelar (SJSU) def. Daria Savechenko (Sac State) | 7-6 (2); 2-6; 11-9 |
| Jessica Willett (SJSU) def. Sophie Lohscheidt (Sac State) | 6-1; 6-3 |
| Olivia Boija (Sac State) def. Tipper Truong (SJSU) | 6-4; 6-1 |