Tennis

ATLANTA – In its Great South Athletic Conference Tournament opener Friday afternoon, the Mount Mary tennis squad was just a handful of points away from advancing in the championship bracket.

Saturday, the Blue Angels left no points in question, answering with a dominant performance in the consolation bracket semifinal and sweeping Rust College (Miss.) 5-0.

“The team was sky-high to play today after yesterday’s war,” head coach Tom Troast said. “Four points yesterday go another way and we’d be playing the top seeded UC-Santa Cruz team today—we’ve lived and died all year with tiebreakers.”

“We had lots of fun today against a Rust team that simply couldn’t match our intensity.”

All three doubles tandems cruised through their flights for Mount Mary (7-6) as the Bearcats managed just 1 set point in across all three levels.

Junior Nina Her (Brown Deer, Wis.) and senior Kat Reynoso (Brookfield, Wis.) completed their match first at No. 1 doubles with an 8-1 victory. Senior Katie Wolk (Oshkosh, Wis.) and freshman Ana Mercado (Grafton, Wis.) won at No. 2 doubles, and senior Briana Lock (Milwaukee, Wis.) and sophomore Brooke Slamka (Racine, Wis.) also earned a clean 8-0 sweep at No. 3—both teams recovering from heartbreaking tiebreak losses Friday.

With a commanding lead after doubles play, the Blue Angels simply overwhelmed Rust (0-5) in singles competition.

Wolk scored her second straight victory at No. 4 singles with a flawless 6-0, 6-0 victory and freshman Andrea Monacelli (Sussex, Wis.) sealed the team victory with a 6-0, 6-0 win a No. 5 singles.

With the team match already clinched, two other Mount Mary singles matchups were abandoned as sophomore Krista Olson (Appleton, Wis.) won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 and Mercado was up 6-1, 5-0 in flight No. 3.

Mount Mary will advance into the fifth place game against Wesleyan College (Ga.)—the only fully affiliated member of the GSAC the Blue Angels will play on this trip to Atlanta.

No. 6-seeded Wesleyan (2-10) fell to No. 3-seed and tournament host Agnes Scott College in the quarterfinal round Friday, then dealt No. 7 Trinity College (D.C.) a 5-2 defeat in Saturday’s other consolation semifinal.

Doubles competition for the Blue Angels and Wolves commences at 8:00 a.m. central time at Byers Tennis Complex on the campus of Georgia Tech University.

GSAC TOURNAMENT RESULTS/SCHEDULE

All matches played at Byers Tennis Complex on the campus of Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Ga.