Lady Rams tennis near perfect at Guilford College

Women's tennis team recap

The Lady Rams tennis team  dominated during a Davis Cup style tournament against the Guilford  College Quakers   Oct. 4. 

Winston-Salem State controlled the close to perfect match 13-1, 11-0 after the singles matches and losing only one of their three doubles matches.  

 The young squad of Lady Rams played like seasoned veterans, beginning with freshman Sloane Holmes' 6-1, 6-2 win against Mackey Wesner, followed by a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Mary Simpson. 

The winning efforts continued for the Lady Rams as freshman Kayla Carter also defeated Simpson and Wesner 6-2, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-1.   

"I am extremely proud of them," said six-year head coach Charlie Schoderbek.

"Being a young team, sometimes it takes time for them to come together as a team. We did it there [at Guilford College]."

Junior Johanna Nunez added to the Lady Rams' success by downing Nina Bollag 6-2, 6-2. 

Freshman Bianka Locklear was also triumphant over Bollag in a tiebreaker match    5-7, 6-2, 10-8 after she defeated Morgan Howard in a shutout victory 6-0, 6-0. 

Freshman Kalin Jarvis contributed to the Lady Rams' victory beating Jackie Goldberg   6-0, 6-0. 

Other upperclassmen joined in on the action as juniors Laken Joyce and Gabrielle Benjamin won matches over Paulette Wyatt 6-3, 6-2 and  Goldberg 6-1, 6-0. 

The Lady Rams continued to dictate the pace of the match heading into doubles as Chelsea Chatham and Jarvis overpowered Simpson and Howard 8-2. 

Joyce and Benjamin also put up an 8-2 victory over Wyatt and Goldberg. 

Sloan and Carter came up just short in their doubles match falling 7-5 to Bollag and Wesner. 

 "I believe we have better talent than Guilford College and our strengths came out," Schoderbek said.   

"They [Lady Rams] finally played a match up to the expectations I set for them initially."

Men's tennis team recap

The men's tennis team fell short in their contest as they faced nationally-ranked opponents.

WSSU traveled to take part in the UNC-Chapel  Hill International Tennis Academy Challenge Oct. 16.  

The Rams slipped to 0-2 in singles matches as junior Brian Coxton was defeated by Kosta Blank of UNC-Wilmington, and senior Troy Moore was dropped 6-0, 6-0 by Jared Pinsky of Duke University.

In the lone doubles match,  juniors Maximilian Glodde and Ian Hunter lost 8-3, versus Andrei Chvetsov and Chris Motes of Furman.   

"Most games were decided by the service or service return," Schoderbek said.  

"[There were] not too many true rally situations. 

"Ian served well as I think. He held service in the two games we did win at love in his doubles match. 

"Brian started off slow in the first set but played well in the second set, only to be broke late in the set for the loss."

During the second day of action, opponents from UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke also defeated WSSU's Coxton and Moore. 

"The combination of playing indoors and the level of competition was too much for us to overcome," Schoderbek said. 

The Rams do not resume play until January 2010.  

The HBCU Invitational that took place during September in Atlanta was not completed due to rain and will remain canceled.