South Carolina State Wins 2014 MEAC Women's Tennis Championship

2014 MEAC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONS
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
Photo courtesy of: MEAC Media Relations

CAYCE, South Carolina -- The South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs defeated the Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats, 4-2, to win the 2014 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Women’s Tennis Championship title on Sunday at the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center. The title is the 10^th consecutive and the 11^th overall for the Lady Bulldogs.

 

“It’s really exciting, especially when we started four freshman, a sophomore and one junior,” South Carolina State head coach Hardeep Judge said. “We have such a young team to lead us to another MEAC title.”

 

In doubles action, the Lady Bulldogs captured wins at the number two and three positions. SCSU’s Viktoriia Khatcei and Marketa Marcanikova topped B-CU’s Elizabethe Nyenwe and Maria Dimitrova, 8-6, to earn the Lady Bulldogs’ doubles victory and first point of the day. In the other’s doubles win, Gabby Chinchilla and Chinatsu Kajiwara rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the match at 6 all, but Olesandra Filipova and Dakota Brown won the next two games to take the match, 8-6.

 

Bethune-Cookman tied the match at 1-1 after Mina Matsuba defeated Klara Dohnalova, 6-0, 6-3. South Carolina State answered with wins at the number five and six positions to grab a 3-1 advantage. Dakota Brown defeated Gaby Chinchilla, 6-2, 6-4, while Marketa Marcanikova got past Ancia Ifill, 6-3, 6-1.

 

The Lady Bulldogs’ Intissar Rassif won the winning point with a thrilling 7-5, 7-6 win over B-CU’s Maria Sablina. Rassif trailed 6-5 in the second set before rattling off two games to with the match.

SCSU’s Rassif was named the Outstanding Performer, while head coach Judge was named the Outstanding Coach.

 

Rassif recorded a 3-0 record in singles play and a 1-1 mark in doubles action to win the honor. Judge was named the Outstanding Coach for the 10^th time in his career on the women’s side.

 

With the win, South Carolina State (13-5) receives the conference's automatic qualification to the NCAA Division I Women's Championship. The Division I Women's Tennis Selection Show will air Tuesday, April 29 at 5:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.

 

For more information about MEAC Women's Tennis, visit www.MEACsports.com

 

2014 Women's All-Tournament Teams:

 

Doubles:

1. Mina Matsuba and Maria Sablina, Bethune-Cookman

2. Viktoriia Khatcei and Marketa Marcanikova, South Carolina State

3. Oleskandra Filipova and Dakota Brown, South Carolina State

 

Singles:

1. Chinatsu Kajiwara, Bethune-Cookman

2. Mina Matsuba, Bethune-Cookman

3. Intissar Rassif, South Carolina State

4. Viktoriia Khatcei, South Carolina State

5. Brooke Hawthorne, Howard

6. Marketa Marcanikova, South Carolina State

 

Outstanding Performers: Intissar Rassif, South Carolina State

Outstanding Coach: Hardeep Judge, South Carolina State

 

Runner-Up Team: Bethune-Cookman University

2014 MEAC Women's Tennis Champion: South Carolina State University

 

COURTESY MEAC SPORTS RELEASE