Women's Tennis | 4/17/2015 8:41:00 PM

Rocky Mount, NC - The Piedmont College women's tennis team had to hold off a furious rally from 3rd seeded Huntingdon College earlier today for a 5-4 win in the quarterfinals of the USA South Championship Tournament in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to advance in postseason play.  

The Lady Lions, entering as the #6 seed in the field, took all three doubles decisions to take a commanding lead over the Hawks, but Huntingdon rallied to take four of the next five singles matches that finished pushing the match to a 4-4 tie.  

The final contest remaining to be settled featured two freshmen in Lady Lion DURDEN SMITH and Huntingdon's own newcomer Sara Duran at the #4 singles spot, the match that would decide who would move on to Semifinal Saturday.  

Smith took the opening set in the match 6-2 before seeing Duran come back to claim the second 6-3 setting up a winner-take-all third set with Piedmont's season riding on the youngster's shoulders.  

However, as cool as the other side of the pillow, Smith was able to shut down any hopes of a Hawks comeback with a decisive 6-1 win in the third and final set handing the Lady Lions the overall match 5-4 and a spot in the semifinals on Saturday.  

Accounting for Piedmont's remaining win in singles play was NICOLE PARRISH as she took a straight sets decision at the #3 slot 6-3, 6-1 for her 10th singles win of the year. 

In doubles action, PC took all three decisions with Parrish combining with fellow veteran AMANDA BLACKWELL at the #1 spot for an 8-4 victory over Hannah Still and Sarah Warren.  Smith combined with fellow freshman MORGAN COWART to win 8-5 at #2 doubles while the win at #3 went to CHRISTIAN WADE and TATIANA BURKETT, their third straight as a doubles pairing.

With the win, Piedmont moves to 8-10 overall on the year and will now face the #2 seed Methodist University in the semifinal round of the USA South Championship Tournament on Saturday, April 18.  First serve in the postseason contest is set to drop at 2:00 pm in Rocky Mount on the NC Wesleyan campus.

Live stats will be provided courtesy of the Office of Sports Information at Ferrum College. 

Piedmont College 5, Huntingdon College 4
Apr 16, 2015 at NC Wesleyan College 

Singles competition

1. Hannah Still (HCW) def. CHRISTIAN WADE (PCW) 7-5, 6-2

2. Sarah Warren (HCW) def. AMANDA BLACKWELL (PCW) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4

3. NICOLE PARRISH (PCW) def. Sandy Mayson (HCW) 6-3, 6-1

4. DURDEN SMITH (PCW) def. Sara Duran (HCW) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

5. Tara-Beth Hall (HCW) def. MORGAN COWART (PCW) 6-4, 6-1

6. Caroline McBroom (HCW) def. KARINA RIVERA (PCW) 6-1, 6-2

 

Doubles competition

1. AMANDA BLACKWELL/NICOLE PARRISH (PCW) def. Hannah Still/Sarah Warren (HCW) 8-4

2. DURDEN SMITH/MORGAN COWART (PCW) def. Caroline McBroom/Sandy Mayson (HCW) 8-5

3. CHRISTIAN WADE/TATIANA BURKETT (PCW) def. Octavia Pendleton/Tara-Beth Hall (HCW) 8-3