Lady Braves end skid, grab win over Coker

By Nick Phillips
Sports Editor

Photo by Nick Faulkner

Lady Braves senior Jenna McGary returns a shot earlier this season. McGary and UNCP beat Coker 6-3 on April 11.

The UNCP tennis team snapped a four-match losing streak with their 6-3 victory on the road over Coker College on April 11.

The win was the Lady Braves' fourth straight against Coker as UNCP moved to 11-4 all-time in the series.

Coker actually led after the doubles portion of play before the Lady Braves rolled though singles competition for the win.

The UNCP duo of senior Christian Minnick and freshman Hannah Herlocker didn't need long to beat Brittany Tando and Faith Baxley 8-3 in the No. 2 doubles contest to open the scoring.

Coker responded with wins in both remaining doubles games, including the No. 1 team of Alyssa Blanchard and Stephanie Medley squeaking by Lady Braves senior Jenna Mc- Gary and sophomore Mia Winterbottom by a 9-7.

On court three, UNCP freshman Madeline DiNunzio and senior Maricel Quintero fell 8-5 to Coker's Kendall Sigmon and Cora Berna as the hosts took a small lead into singles play.

In the singles matchups, UNCP grabbed wins in five of the six contests for the win, with McGary besting Blanchard 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 1 matchup.

Winterbottom suffered the only Lady Braves loss, faltering to Berna 6-1, 5-7, 10-2 on court No. 2. Herlocker defeated Medley 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 3 matchup, while Quintero knocked off Yando 7-5, 6-0 on court No. 4. DiNunzio tallied an identical score in her No. 5 singles matchup over Yando, while Minnick came out victorious in a secondset tiebreaker to best Baxley 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) in the No. 6 contest.

The Lady Braves finish off their 2011 season with Senior Day on April 15 at 3 p.m.