SALISBURY, N.C. – The Converse University men's and women's tennis teams edged their way past Catawba College on Saturday afternoon with a pair of 4-3 wins.
The Converse University women's tennis team hadn't seen the court as a team since the conference tournament in April of last season.
Tonya Glogowski-Watson and
Anna Klasson started off the day with a 6-4 win at the No.1 doubles flight, but the Catawba Indians clinched the doubles point with a win at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles courts.
Gologowski-Watson took her momentum from doubles play onto the singles court with her. Glogowski-Watson put the Valkyries on the board with a decisive 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 2 singles flight. The momentum and the emotion from that win helped spark a pair of comeback wins for the Valkyries.
"I felt my win helped give us some energy, especially for the third sets. It changed the feel of the match," Glogowski-Watson said of the atmosphere.
Belen Vendrell dropped the opening set at the No. 1 singles flight, but exploded for a pair of 6-4 set wins in both the second and third sets to steal a victory away from the Indians. Marleen Pronz rebounded in the second set after faltering in her opening set on the No. 3 singles court. A 6-3 second set win and a 6-1 third set win gave the Valkyries a 3-1 lead.
"That's experience and heart," Converse University head tennis coach
Alex Poda said. "They both hate to lose. When they didn't play well in doubles, you knew something fun was going to happen in the singles for the two of them. Just two incredible competitors that I'm so happy are on our side."
A Catawba win at the No. 5 court cut the Valkyries deficit to 3-2, but
Anna Klasson delivered a strong 6-3, 7-5 performance at the No. 4 flight to clinch the match for Converse. Catawba finished with a marathon win at the No. 6 court to make the score 4-3.
This win sets the Valkyrie, a team with title aspirations, up well going into the championship season in the Spring.
On the men's side the Converse tennis team hit the road for their second dual match of the fall season. The Valkyries rode momentum from their last match and once again swept the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead.
Merlin Bellet continued his stellar Fall season with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles to give the Valkyries a 2-0 advantage early in the match.
Gregoire Legrand pushed Catawba to the brink with a 7-5, 6-2 victory at the No. 3 singles court.
Catawba rallied though, with three set victories at the No. 2 and No. 4 singles flights. A 6-4, 6-4 win at the No. 5 singles flight tied the match at 3-3. Unphased by the pressure,
Cameron Davies dominated his match at the No. 6 singles court with a 4-3 win to push the Valkyries to 2-0 on the season. Both wins have come against South Atlantic Conference opponents.
"This was Cam's first time in this situation," Poda said. "He watched Merlin handle the pressure last time and got to learn a little bit. He was disappointed in his match last time, but the joy when he won and got to hug his teammates, that was awesome. He handled the moment like a veteran player despite being so young. I am so proud of the concentration and the win."
The Valkyries will have a few months off before they open up their spring slate of games against Limestone on February 8
th. The match is set for a 1:30 p.m. start time on the campus of Converse University.
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