Valeriia Popko Clinches, GWU Takes 4-3 Thriller Versus USC Upstate
February 26, 2014 | Women's Tennis
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Sophomore Valeriia Popko battled back for the clinching win at No. 4 singles as Gardner-Webb's women's team won four singles matches to earn a 4-3 marathon win over visiting USC Upstate at the Webb Tennis Complex Tuesday night.
GWU (7-2, 1-0 BSC) needed 4 hours and 15 minutes to defend its home court and got singles wins it required from its No.'s 3-6 players.
USC Upstate captured the opening doubles point. The Spartans' duo of Cohen/Van de Berg cruised to an 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles, while Gardner-Webb's Jenny Lunde and Rokia Sacko paired for an 8-2 win at the No. 2 doubles spot, meaning the point would come down to the No. 1 doubles match.
Yasmin Doost and Ronia Hutterli fought back to force a tiebreak at the No. 1 spot, but timely play from Upstate's Van Stryk/Rojas earned the visitors an 8-7 (6) atop the doubles lineup, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead and meaning GWU would need four singles wins to earn the victory Tuesday.
At No. 5 singles, Sacko (Montreal, Canada) stayed undefeated on the year to help get the Runnin' Bulldogs' comeback going, winning 6-0, 6-1 against Van de Berg.
The No. 6 singles match ended next, as freshman Catherine White (Rock Hill, S.C.) cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win against the Spartans' Baran to give GWU its second point.
USC Upstate's Zoske finished off a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles, evening the scoring at 2-2.
At No. 3 singles, great hustle play from Hutterli (Duebendorf, Switzerland) earned her a win against Rojas and moved the Runnin' Bulldogs within one point of an unlikely come-from-behind win. The senior won 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 3 spot.
Van Stryk of Upstate fought off two match points to win at the No. 1 singles position, tying the score again at 3-3 while the match at No. 4 singles also went to three sets. Van Stryk overcame a fast start by Doost (Bray, Maidenhead, England) to win 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 at the No. 1 spot.
Popko's match at No. 4 singles was the last to finish. The sophomore dropped her first set against Cohen, then battled back to win the second and deciding third set to record a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win at the No. 4 spot and give Gardner-Webb the match-clinching point.
With the win, Popko improves to 8-1 at No. 4 singles on the year, giving GWU two players with at least eight singles wins in 2014. Sacko, also a sophomore, is the other, having forged a perfect 9-0 record thus far this season.
Gardner-Webb will look to keep the momentum off a quality win heading into its next match, a home match versus East Carolina on Saturday, March 1 at 10:00 a.m.
