CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston Southern took the doubles point and Alia Nour clinched the match as Charleston Southern topped visiting Liberty in the Buccaneers' Big South opener on Saturday afternoon at the Buccaneer Tennis Complex, 5-2.
Nour defeated Nicola Wellman on court no. 5, 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the match for the Buccaneers, while Marketa Placha, Yvonne Hubler and Alexandra Walters all picked up singles wins in CSU's fourth consecutive win.
Charleston Southern improves to 5-3, 1-0 in Big South action on the season with the victory, while Liberty falls to 7-3, 2-1 in conference play with the loss.
Placha and Nicolin Luecke opened up doubles play for the Buccaneers on court no. 3, topping Wellman and Cameron Richard 8-0 for the first win of the day. After Belen Rivera and Brittany Yang evened the match up at 1-1 following their 8-5 win on court no. 2 over CSU's Nour and Mi'Kola Cooper, Walters and Hubler clinched the first point of the match after a tough battle against Maria Khval and Rebekah Jenkins. Walters and Hubler won in the tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-5).
In singles action, Walters opened play in topping Rivera 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 on court no. 3 to push the Buccaneers advantage to 2-0. Placha followed shortly after with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Khval on court no. 1, and Nour clinched the CSU victory with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court no. 5 over Wellman.
Mariely Hassey picked up the first Liberty point of the day with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Luecke on court no. 4. Hubler picked up the final victory of the CSU afternoon, rallying back from a first set 4-6 loss to top Jenkins on court no. 2, 6-3, 6-4.
Yang finished the match on court no. 6, topping CSU's Cooper, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 1-0 (10-8).
Charleston Southern is back in action next weekend, hosting Radford on Saturday afternoon with first serve in doubles action set for 1 p.m.
Charleston Southern 5, Liberty 2
Mar 02, 2014 at Charleston, S.C. (Buccaneer Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. Marketa Placha (CSU) def. KHVAL, Maria (LIBERTYW) 6-2, 6-3
2. Yvonne Hubler (CSU) def. JENKINS, Rebekah (LIBERTYW) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. Alexandra Walters (CSU) def. RIVERA, Belen (LIBERTYW) 7-6 (7-3), 6-0
4. HASSEY, Mariely (LIBERTYW) def. Nicolin Luecke (CSU) 7-5, 6-4
5. Alia Nour (CSU) def. WELLMAN, Nicola (LIBERTYW) 6-4, 6-3
6. YANG, Brittany (LIBERTYW) def. Mi'Kola Cooper (CSU) 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 1-0 (10-8)
Doubles competition
1. Alexandra Walters/Yvonne Hubler (CSU) def. KHVAL, Maria/JENKINS, Rebekah (LIBERTYW) 9-8 (7-5)
2. RIVERA, Belen/YANG, Brittany (LIBERTYW) def. Alia Nour/Mi'Kola Cooper (CSU) 8-5
3. Marketa Placha/Nicolin Luecke (CSU) def. WELLMAN, Nicola/RICHARD, Cameron (LIBERTYW) 8-0
Match Notes
Liberty 7-3, 2-1
Charleston Southern 5-3, 1-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,1,5,4,2,6)
