March 2, 2008

Northern Colorado's women's tennis team came up short in two of its three doubles matches against the University of Texas at El Paso on Sunday, March 2, at Work Out West in Greeley, but the Bears won four of six singles matches to pull out the victory.

Tabitha Knop (No. 1 singles) and her sister, Tiffany Knop (No. 2) each won singles matches against the Miners, as did Manuela Santos (No. 3) and Jodi Ciarvella (No. 6). The Bears improved to 3-7 with the victory.

"Despite losing the doubles point today, our team bounced back and won four of the singles matches to clinch the win," Bears coach Brenda Vlasak said. "Today, everyone showed up to compete hard."

The Knop sisters got Northern Colorado going in the right direction once singles play began and Santos kept up the momentum. Tabitha's 6-0, 6-4 victory against Maniana Deluca and Tiffany's 6-2, 6-2 victory against Megan Pritchard had the Bears up 2-1 heading into the final four singles matches. Santos increased the lead with her 6-1, 6-0 win against Ximena Fuentes. Then, with the match tied at three, Ciarvella held off Harmonie Chatagner, 6-3, 6-1.

"I was very proud of both our doubles and singles play," Vlasak said. "Tiffany Knop and Jodi Ciarvella played some outstanding singles and really played up to their level."  

Northern Colorado 4, UTEP 3

Doubles

1. Knop/Santos (NC) def. Pritchard/Chatagner, 8-2

2. Fuentes/Deluca (UTEP) def. LaForest/Groll, 8-2

3. Brightly/Michaud (UTEP) def. Knop/Ciarvella, 8-4

Singles

1. Tab Knop (NC) def. Maniana Deluca, 6-0 6-4

2. Tiff Knop (NC) def. Megan Pritchard, 6-2 6-2

3. Manuela Santos (NC) def. Ximena Fuentes, 6-1 6-0

4. Vicky Michaud (UTEP) def. Karen Groll, 6-1 6-2

5. Amber Brightly (UTEP) def. Luiza Xavier, 6-4 7-5

6 Jodi Ciarvella (NC) def. Harmonie Chatagner, 6-3 6-1