March 14, 2008

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - One record was broken and one was tied on Friday afternoon at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex, as the USC Upstate women's tennis team downed Stetson, 5-2, to improve to a perfect 5-0 in Atlantic Sun Conference play. Junior Anna Novo (Caracas, Venezuela/El-Angel) broke the school record for wins in a season and head coach Alessandro De Marzo tied the school record for career wins.

Novo, who won her 23rd singles match of the season, broke a record set by herself and senior Diana Martinez (Medellin, Colombia/Nuestra Senora del Rosario) with 22 wins in 2006-07. Novo, who has 58 singles wins in her career, posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Valentina Galbarini at No. 1 singles to pace the Spartans (11-2 overall, 5-0 A-Sun).

De Marzo, in his fourth year as head coach, tied the women's program record for wins, set by his predecessor, Tami Matheny, who won 57 matches from 1998-2004. De Marzo is currently 57-23 (.623) in his four seasons at Upstate.

The Spartans picked up the doubles point in come-from-behind fashion against the Hatters (6-7 overall, 4-2 A-Sun). They fell in No. 1 doubles but rebounded with 8-6 wins at No. 2 and No. 3, with Martinez and junior Maria Herrera (Buenos Aires, Argentina) posting the win at No. 3 against Natalie Gorham and Anna Leonenko, setting up senior Susana Hernandez (Cali, Colombia/Colegio Americano) and junior Daniela Lovera (Caracas, Venezuela/Santa Rosa Lima), who clinched the doubles point by downing Breanna Atkinson and Katerine Nowicki, coming back to win the match-clinching game after being down 40-0.

Novo's win paced the Spartans, who clinched the match as Lovera downed Megan Jones, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4 singles and Herrera beat Nowicki, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 6 singles. After a loss at No. 5 singles, Hernandez added a 7-5, 7-5 win over Atkinson at No. 2, giving the Spartans a 5-1 lead. A three-set win for the Hatters at No. 3 singles rounded out the scoring.

Upstate will look to keep its perfect conference record in tact when Florida Gulf Coast visits the USC Upstate Tennis Complex on Saturday, March 22 at 10 a.m.

Women's Tennis Results
USC Upstate 5, Stetson 2
 Singles competition
1. Anna Novo (UPST) def. Valentina Galbarini (STET) 6-2, 6-3
2. Susana Hernandez (UPST) def. Breanna Atkinson (STET) 7-5, 7-5
3. Unnati Purushotham (STET) def. Emilia Milovanovic (UPST) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Daniela Lovera (UPST) def. Megan Jones (STET) 6-4, 6-3
5. Anna Leonenko (STET) def. Diana Martinez (UPST) 6-4, 6-4
6. Maria Herrera (UPST) def. Katerine Nowicki (STET) 6-4, 6-3
 Doubles competition
1. Valentina Galbarini/Unnati Purushotham (STET) def. Anna Novo/
Emilia Milovanovic (UPST) 8-5
2. Susana Hernandez/Daniela Lovera (UPST) def. Breanna Atkinson/
Katerine Nowicki (STET) 8-6
3. Diana Martinez/Maria Herrera (UPST) def. Natalie Gorham/Anna
Leonenko (STET) 8-6
Match Notes:
Stetson 6-7, 4-2
USC Upstate 11-2, 5-0
T-3:20  A-78