COLUMBUS, Ga. - The University of West Alabama Tennis program swept their doubleheader against Columbus State on Monday.
UWA's 17th ranked Men's team secured a 4-1 win over the No. 5 Columbus State while West Alabama's fifth ranked Women's team gutted out a 4-3 decision.
"This is a huge win to beat CSU at their place," said head coach Jeff Beaman. "The men and women need to keep this momentum through this tough upcoming week"
#17 UWA MEN'S TENNIS
The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead after securing the Doubles point over the Cougars. The doubles duo of Federico Iturbe/Jacob Tapia and Maksim Goncharov/Afonso Portugal were victorious on Lines One and Three with scores of 7-5 and 6-3, respectively.
Portugal opened up singles play with a (7-6, 6-4) win over Yike Liu on Line Three while Goncharov followed suite on Line Four with a (6-4, 6-2) victory over CSU's Samer Al Tori.
With one more individual singles match victory to clinch the team win, Iturbe took care of Columbus State's Daniel Hammond in straight sets, (6-3, 6-4) to put a stamp on UWA's 4-1 win.
#5 UWA WOMEN'S TENNIS
West Alabama dealt with some adversity to begin as they dropped the doubles point. The star duo of Alexa Milliam/Shaira Rivera defeated the Cougars' tandem of Nikoline Gullacksen/Claudia De Lucas on Line One, 6-1, but losses on Lines Two and Three resulted in the Tigers trailing, 1-0, as the match progressed to singles play.
UWA quickly fell down, 2-0, after a loss on Line One singles before Valentina Mutilba secured the first point of the match for West Alabama on Line Three. The Junior defeated CSU's De Lucas, (6-3, 6-4) to slow down the Cougars' momentum.
Jenaila Prulla and Nanoka Kazama have been dominant for the Tigers on Lines Five and Six and that continued on Monday against Columbus State. Prulla secured a (1-6, 6-4, 6-2) victory on Line Five while Kazama was victorious in straight sets, (6-2, 7-6).
CSU picked up a victory on Line Four to tie the match at 3-3. With the match up for grabs, Milliam won it for West Alabama on Line Two as the sophomore defeated Monika Temkova, (3-6, 6-4, 7-6).
Men's Tennis will be back in action on Tuesday for a 2:00 p.m. matchup against Montevallo at home while the Women will play the Falcons on the road on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.
