Tennis claims back-to-back wins

By Scott Sutton, For The Miami Student

Miami University women's tennis came out on top against Samford University (3-5) and Wright State University (5-2) this weekend to pass .500 with a 5-4 record.

The RedHawks defeated Samford 4-3 Saturday. Junior Andreea Badileanu paired up with freshman Emily Struble to get the 6-3 win over Samford's freshman Georgina Jupp and sophomore Savannah Wood. Freshman Anzhelika Shapovalova and sophomore Hannah Shteyn beat sophomore Ellie Gerlach and senior Iva Parapanova, 7-5, to take the doubles point.

Miami won the next three singles matches in straight sets to clinch the victory.

Junior Andreea Badileanu won her singles match 6-2, 6-0. Shteyn won hers 6-2, 6-2 and freshman Anzhelika Shapovalova won hers 6-3, 6-4.

Shapovalova extended her winning streak to three matches.

"The main takeaway for the girls, today, was a win," Carollo said. "Especially, the doubles win. I believe that Hannah and Anzhelika executed tremendously and capitalized off of Samford's mistakes. We played very offensively and will continue to do so throughout the upcoming weeks."

The 'Hawks shut out Wright State 7-0 Sunday. The evening started out with a 6-4 win from the Shapovalova and Shteyn duo and a 7-5 win from the sophomore Nelli Ponomareva and sophomore Anastasiia Vasiukhina duo.

Every RedHawk player won her singles match against Wright State in straight sets.

Badileanu got the second point on the board for Miami after her opponent retired. Shteyn was next to finish with 6-4, 6-0 victory. Ponomareva clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win.

Though the next three matches were technically irrelevant, Shapovalova, freshman Emily Struble and senior Ana Rodrigez each came out on top. Shapovalova won 6-4, 6-2; Struble won 6-3, 6-3; and Rodriquez won 6-4, 7-5.

Hannah Shteyn went undefeated on the weekend in both doubles and singles.

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"We were all just really prepared for Samford and Wright State," Shteyn said. "We had a lot of momentum going into both matches. We were all feeling more confident. Each one of us tapped into the way that the others were playing. I've really been working on being more aggressive. I did not have the aggression that I needed in the previous matches which led to losses. That has really been the key for me."

The team has a break in the action next week and will continue the season March 12 at Winthrop University (4-1) and March 13 at Georgia State University (5-2).