SAC Tennis Championship Quarterfinal Recaps

Women's Quarterfinals

No. 4 Newberry 5, No. 5 Anderson 2

ROCK HILL, S.C. – After sweeping the doubles round, fourth-seeded Newberry held off fourth-seeded Anderson with a 5-2 win in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

With the victory, the Wolves advance to Thursday's semifinal against top-seeded Wingate, while the Trojans close their season at 8-9.

Newberry jumped out quickly in the doubles round, notching three straight victories. Marina Ziehe and Vanessa Ortiz claimed the first points of the match with an 8-2 win over Anderson's duo of Rebecca Bruning and Lindsay Gregory at the No. 2 position. At No. 3, Shannon McManus and Tara Lamers knocked off Alexandra Ebner and Nikkola Wichenko, 8-4, to increase the NC lead.

Rounding out the doubles round, the Newberry team of Susana Aguirre and Romina Adum defeated Karen Ching and Avery Owens at the No. 1 slot, 8-5.

Aguirre increased the Newberry lead with a straight-set win, defeating Ching 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 1 position. Anderson tried to make a comeback with back-to-back singles wins as Owens knocked off Adum 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2, while Gregory defeated Ariel Strong 6-4, 6-4 at No.5.

Despite the two wins, Ortiz sealed the win with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Bruning to put the Wolves into the next round of the annual tournament.

Newberry is scheduled to face the top-seeded Bulldogs on Thursday at the Rock Hill Tennis Center, beginning at 9 a.m.

No. 3 Queens 5, No. 6 Mars Hill 1

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Claiming two-of-three doubles matches to begin the contest, third-seeded Queens University of Charlotte captured three singles matches to eliminate sixth-seeded Mars Hill, 5-1, and advance to the semifinals of the 2014 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

The win places the Royals in Thursday's semifinal against second-seeded Tusculum, as Mars Hill closes its year with a 9-10 overall record.

Despite the victory, Mars Hill was the first team to find the scoreboard as MHU's Anna Rickenbaker and Jade Henke defeated Jaclyn Rock and Claire Hamilton 8-2 at No. 2 doubles.

Facing the early deficit, Queens rattled off two straight doubles wins, as Christin Rustscheff and Melissa Laing defeated Tatiana Dualiby and Lucy McLaurin, 8-6, at No. 1, while Faria Rafiq and Paige Ernest brought down Grace Dipenbrock and Dafna Porat, 9-7, at the No. 3 slot.

In the singles round, the Royals continued their winning trend, as Rock and Jessee Clausen posted straight-set victories at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. Rock grabbed a 6-1, 6-3 win over McLaurin, while Clausen earned a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Dipenbrock.

Laing clinched the tournament win with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 three-set victory over Rickenbaker at the No. 2 slot, sending Queens into the semifinals.

Men's Quarterfinals

No. 3 Coker 5,  No. 6 Newberry 0

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Coker College sophomore teammates William Marrafao (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Martin Moncayo (Quito, Ecuador) won two matches each, lifting the number 33 Cobras to a 5-0 triumph over Newberry College in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference men’s tennis tournament quarterfinals Wednesday at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

Number three seed Coker improves to 11-7 overall, while number six seed Newberry completes the 2014 campaign 9-12 overall. The first-year SAC member Coker Cobras will face number two seed Tusculum College (17-4 overall) in the tournament semi-finals Thursday. First serve is slated for 1 p.m.

Moncayo won the clincher, taking a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Newberry senior David Sons (Lexington, S.C.) at the number five singles flight. Marrafao made the score 4-0 Cobras with his 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Wolves junior Carlos Nicolopulos (Valencia, Venezuela) at the number five spot.

Marrafao started the day by teaming with sophomore Tom Sizeland (Hamilton, New Zealand) for an 8-3 number two doubles win over Nicolopulos and NC sophomore Fernando Espana (Madrid, Spain). Moncayo helped take the third doubles point as he paired with classmate Zach Grooms (Hartsville, S.C.) for an 8-4 decision at the number three flight.

At the number one flight, Newberry senior Vinicius Botelho (Fortaleza, Brazil) led Coker sophomore Andre Staab (Aschaffenburg, Germany) 7-5, 1-0 when the match was decided. Staab is the number 22 ranked singles player in the NCAA Division II and the number four ranked individual in the uber-competitive Southeast Region.

No. 4 Queens 5, No. 5 Anderson 4

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Queens University of Charlotte freshman Will Roberson (Charlotte, N.C.) won the deciding point, helping the Royals rally from a 4-2 deficit en route to a 5-4 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference men's tennis tournament quarter-final victory over Anderson (S.C.) University Wednesday night at the Rock Hill Tennis Center. The time of the match was four hours and 34 minutes.

Anderson led 4-2 when the Royals mounted their rally. Queens top two players (Per-Erik Soler and Jules Athalis) won three-set matches to tie the score at 4-4. Roberson took a thrilling 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 decision over Anderson's Danilo Faria at number six singles, clinching the victory for the Royals.

Roberson won two matches for Queens, as he collected a victory at the number three doubles flight. The Royals led 2-1 after doubles, thanks to wins at number two and number three. Queens will face SAC regular season champion Wingate Thursday at 1 p.m.