March 22, 2003

Cullowhee, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's tennis team fought hard, but came up short against a tough Coastal Carolina team, 6-1. The Catamounts are now 5-5 overall (0-1 SoCon).

Western surrendered all three doubles matches, although the last one went down to the wire. Shannon Zalinski and Megan Bechtold fell to Medina Bajrambasic and Marie Matrka, 8-2, while Rocio Perez and Erin Johnson were defeated by Dana Goffin and Petra Jantti, 8-3. Kristin Munn and Kristin Cotton took their match all the way to an 8-8 tie, sending it to a tie breaker, in which Stephanie Koot and Rosemary Younger outlasted the duo, 10-8.

In singles action, Zalinski ended up with the automatic victory after being up 5-4, after Jantti went out with an injury. Down 6-3 in the first set, Bechtold came back to challenge Goffin in the second, but fell 7-5. Munn played a marathon match against Matrka, taking it to a tie breaker in the third set, but lost 10-4 in the rubber match.

The Cats resume conference play at East Tennessee State on Sunday, March 23, with the match starting at 1:00 pm.

Doubles
Bajrambasic/Matrka (CCU) def. Zalinski/Bechtold (WCU); 8-2
Goffin/Jantti (CCU) def. Perez/Johnson (WCU); 8-3
Koot/Younger (CCU) def. Munn/Cotton (WCU); 9-8 (10)

Singles
Medina Bajrambasic (CCU) def. Rocio Perez (WCU); 6-3, 6-1
Dana Goffin (CCU) def. Megan Bechtold (WCU); 6-3, 7-5
Marie Matrka (CCU) def. Kristin Munn (WCU); 7-6, 5-7, 10-4
Stephanie Koot (CCU) def. Kristin Cotton (WCU); 6-4, 6-2
Shannon Zalinski (WCU) def. Petra Jantti (CCU); default (5-4)
Rosemary Younger (CCU) def. Katie VanEwyk (WCU); 6-2, 6-2