By Joey Jones. GREENSBORO, N.C. – App State opened the fall tennis season at the UNC Greensboro Invitational with an impressive showing in both singles and doubles over the three-day event.
Competing against teams from UNCG, Campbell, Davidson, East Carolina, Elon and Gardner-Webb, App State’s Helena Jansen and Maggie Pate tied for first in the top flight of singles competition, while the Mountaineers’ duo of Olwyn Ryan-Bovey and Riley Collins finished best in the top flight of doubles.
“I’m very pleased with the way we competed this weekend,” said third-year head coach Ashleigh Antal. “We had a great showing across the board, and we have a solid foundation to build from. I want to specifically highlight our new additions to the roster – Maggie Pate, Riley Collins and Savannah Dada-Mascoll. They all had a fantastic impact this weekend. Overall, I’m really happy with where we are this early in the year. I’m looking forward to the progress we’ll make over the rest of the fall season.”
Jansen and Pate tied for the best showing among the top flight of singles competition with 15 points apiece.
Jansen opened Friday’s competition with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Elon’s Julie Ball, then followed that with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Davidson’s Franny Shea on Saturday and a 6-2, 6-4 win over UNCG’s Arina Babkova on Sunday.
Pate opened Friday’s competition with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Elon’s Lizette Reding, followed by a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Davidson’s Kavya Patel and a 6-0, 6-3 win over UNCG’s Olivia Gallagher.
Dada-Mascoll, Ellie Murphy, Ryan-Bovey and Collins also secured singles victories over the course of the weekend, including a clean sweep in six singles matches against UNCG on Sunday.
Doubles competition was just as successful for the Mountaineers, with Ryan-Bovey and Collins winning all three of their matches (Friday against UNCG, Saturday against Davidson and Sunday against UNCG.
The other two tandems of Jansen/Murphy and Dada-Mascoll/Pate also secured multiple doubles victories on the weekend.
App State will be back in action Oct. 8-10 at the Coastal Carolina Invitational in Conway, S.C.
