DAVIDSON, N.C. – Sophomore
Katharine Dicconson (Pacific Grove, Calif.) finished perfect on the weekend in singles play as she was one of seven ‘Cats to score at least one win at the Davidson Invitational, Oct. 16-17, which was hosted by Davidson College on the Covington Tennis Courts.
Hosting its own invitational, Davidson welcomed Southern Conference opponents Elon and UNC Greensboro, along with cross-county rival Charlotte for the two-day round-robin individual team tournament. Play began on Friday, Oct. 16 with two doubles matches followed by a singles match. Saturday wrapped up the invite with two singles matches and one doubles match.
Dicconson went a perfect 3-0 in her singles matches, while also adding a doubles win over the weekend. The sophomore opened play with a strong 6-1, 6-0 win over Ginny Johnson of Charlotte. She then took a tiebreaker from Jessica Eblen (6-3, 2-6, 10-5), before rounding out the day on Saturday with a 7-5, 6-3 win against an Elon player.
Senior
Virginia Berry (Spartanburg, S.C.), redshirt freshman
Stephani Synn (Conover, N.C.) and freshman
Catherine Wood (Greensboro, N.C.) followed with two wins each in their rounds of singles matches. Like Dicconson, Berry and Synn also scored a win apiece in doubles action.
Berry, the Wildcats’ top returning singles play last season and an All-SoCon pick, went 2-1 as she scored straight set wins over Alex Zinn of Charlotte (6-4, 6-4) and Briana Berne of Elon (6-1, 6-4). The senior’s doubles win came with partner
Teresa Wang (Charlotte) at the No. 1 spot as they captured an 8-4 win over a pair from Elon.
Wang scored a singles win over the weekend when she came back from dropping a 2-6 decision in the first set by sweeping to a 6-0 win in the second set and then sealed the win by taking a 10-5 tiebreaker.
Working her way back from missing all of last season, Synn regrouped after dropping a tiebreaker to Andrea Rivera of Charlotte on Friday in her first singles match, to pick up wins over Valerie Behr of UNCG and Laura Graybill of the Phoenix. She scored a 6-1, 5-7, 10-2 win over Behr, while then capping off a nice weekend with a very impressive 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Graybill.
Wood went 2-1 in her three singles matches. The freshman tallied 6-4, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-2 victories over Anna Ekelund of the 49ers and Mikayla Rogers of the Spartans.
Ali Gores (Charlotte, N.C.) and
Samantha Galainena (Burr Ridge, Ill.) netted a win apiece in their singles matches, while sophomore
Romina Clemente (Canton, Ohio) also participated in singles play, falling in both her matches.
Gores and Galainena both teamed up in doubles action, scoring an 8-5 win over a duo from Elon, and Gores added one more doubles win when she partnered with Synn for an 8-3 triumph over two 49er players.
Davidson has one more fall event when it heads to the ITA Southeast Regionals, which will be hosted by Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C.