March 29, 2008

Final Stats

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Junior Anna Novo (Caracas, Venezuela/El-Angel) added another school record to her arsenal on Friday afternoon as the USC Upstate women's tennis team improved to 7-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference to stay in first place in the conference with a 5-2 win over UNF in conference play. Upstate improved to 13-2 overall and 7-0 in the league while North Florida fell to 7-10 overall and 4-2 in the conference.

Upstate will face one of the toughest challenges of the season on Saturday when it heads to Jacksonville to face the 12-5 Dolphins, who are a perfect 5-0 in the A-Sun after a 5-2 win against ETSU on Friday, who is now 6-1 in the conference. The match starts at 10 a.m.

Novo set the school record for combined wins (singles and doubles) in a season, as she earned her 21st doubles win of the year with freshman partner Emilia Milovanovic (Paris, France/CNED) and added her 25th singles win at the No. 1 slot for Upstate. She passed the mark of 44 set by senior Susana Hernandez (Cali, Columbia/Colegio Americano), who went 44-12 (20-6 in singles, 24-6 in doubles) in 2006-07 with her doubles win. For good measure, Novo also passed the men's record, set by Jorge Ventura in 1995-96, when he went 45-18 (21-10 in singles, 24-8 in doubles) for then-USC Spartanburg.

The Spartans earned the doubles point by taking two of the three matches, with Novo and Milovanovic downing Carolina Melo and Natalia Sanchez, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles and Hernandez and junior Daniela Lovera (Caracas, Venezuela/Santa Rosa Lima) clinched the point with an 8-6 win over Vanessa Sanchez and Ina Durcakova at No. 2 doubles.

After the Ospreys earned a win due to retirement at No. 2 singles to tie the match, Milovanovic earned a win of her own through retirement, defeating Maria Melihova, 6-4, 3-3, retired. Lovera added a 6-2, 5-1 win over Ina Durcakova at No. 4 singles and Martinez handled Victoria Krook, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 5 singles. Novo added a 6-2, 6-3 win over Sanchez at No. 1 singles to clinch the match for Upstate before UNF won the No. 6 singles match in a super-set tiebreaker.

Women's Tennis Results
USC Upstate 5, North Florida 2
 Singles competition 
1. Anna Novo (UPST) def. Natalia Sanchez (UNFW) 6-2, 6-3
2. Vanessa Sanchez (UNFW) def. Susana Hernandez (UPST) 3-6, 4-3, retired
3. Emilia Milovanovic (UPST) def. Maria Melihova (UNFW) 6-4, 3-3, retired
4. Daniela Lovera (UPST) def. Ina Durcakova (UNFW) 6-2, 6-1
5. Diana Martinez (UPST) def. Victoria Krook (UNFW) 6-1, 6-3
6. Carolina Melo (UNFW) def. Maria Herrera (UPST) 4-6, 7-6 (6-0), 10-5
 Doubles competition 
1. Anna Novo/Emilia Milovanovic (UPST) def. Carolina Melo/Natalia
Sanchez (UNFW) 8-5
2. Susana Hernandez/Daniela Lovera (UPST) def. Vanessa Sanchez/Ina
Durcakova (UNFW) 8-6
3. Maria Melihova/Victoria Krook (UNFW) def. Diana Martinez/Maria
Herrera (UPST) 8-6
Match Notes:
USC Upstate 13-2, 7-0 A-Sun
North Florida 7-10, 4-2 A-Sun