Alabama State University Team Page

LOS ANGELES – The Alabama women’s tennis team picked up a pair of wins on the first day of play at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships Saturday. All pre-qualifying action is being held on the campus of UCLA.

 

“This is top competition, so all of the matches have been quality matches,” said head coach Jenny Mainz. “This is a great opportunity to participate in such a prestigious event. We came to get a taste of what we’re up against, and we’re certainly getting that. We’ve been able to take away some positives and identify areas that need more work.”

 

Saturday began with doubles action where Sophomore Courtney McLane and freshman Alexa Guarachi defeated the UCLA pair of freshman Stephanie Hoffpauir and junior Maya Johansson 8-3. Senior Paulina Bigos and sophomore Taylor Lindsey dropped an 8-0 decision to the Illinois duo of sophomore Chelcie Abajian and senior Megan Fudge.

 

“Courtney and Alexa did a great job breaking serve at 4-3,” explained Mainz. “They became a lot more confident and started playing more aggressively and authoritatively at that point and really finished strong. Paulina and Taylor didn’t get their teeth into the match. The first few games were close, but we just weren’t executing early. Illinois really picked it up and raised their level of play.”

 

In singles, Guarachi had no trouble with Clemson sophomore Laurianne Henry as the Alabama netter picked up a 6-1, 6-2 win in the first round. In the second round, Guarachi faced off with sophomore Zara Harutyunyan of Akron. Harutyunyan came out on top winning 7-6, 7-6. Bigos also competed in the pre-qualifying singles draw dropping a 6-3, 6-1 decision to SMU sophomore Aleksandra Malyarchikova.

 

“Alexa played a good, solid first match,” Mainz said. “In the second match, she missed capitalizing on some opportunities. It was her match to win or lose, and I think she may have rushed things too much. Her opponent did a good job of fighting.”

 

Action begins Sunday at 9:00 a.m. (PST) with doubles where McLane and Guarachi are scheduled to take on the No. 4 seeded pair in junior Morgan Frank and senior Elze Potgieter of Texas A&M.

 

RESULTS

Doubles

McLane/Guarachi (UA) def. Hoffpauir/Johansson (UCLA) 8-3

Abajian/Fudge (ILL) def. Bigos/Lindsey (UA) 8-0

 

Singles

Alexa Guarachi (UA) def. Laurianne Henry (CLEM) 6-1, 6-2

Zara Harutyunyan (AKRON) def. Alexa Guarachi (UA) 7-6, 7-6

Alexandra Malyarchikova (SMU) def. Paulina Bigos (UA) 6-3, 6-1