49ers Edge Billikens in Fifth-Place Match
April 20, 2008 MONROEVILLE, Pa. - Eighth-seeded Saint Louis finished sixth at the Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship following a 4-3 loss to No. 7 Charlotte on Sunday at Club 4 Life. The Billikens, who concluded the season with a 13-12 record, reached the fifth-place match by defeating No. 4 Duquesne 4-2 on Saturday. Saint Louis opened the tournament Friday with a 4-0 victory over No. 9 Fordham and a 4-3 loss to No. 1 Massachusetts. Charlotte collected the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Ana Spivakovsky and Yudeshire Pillay beat senior Amanda Hellberg (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) and freshman Casey Miller (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's) 8-1 at No. 1, while Gabi Vargara and Kimber Redfern were 8-4 winners over seniors Tara Grant (Austin, Texas/St. Stephen's) and Rachel McCullagh (Sugar Land, Texas/John Newcombe) at No. 3. Koren Fleming and Candace Cunningham led freshman Hailee Elmore (Springfield, Ill./Springfield) and junior Joe Becker (Frankfurt, Germany/Ziehen School) 6-5 when their No. 2 contest was halted. In singles, Elmore improved to 3-0 in the A-10 Championship by breezing past Fleming 6-4, 6-0 at No. 2, and Grant got past Vargara 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5 to go to 3-1 at the conference tourney. McCullagh won by forfeit at No. 6. The 49ers claimed the match with victories at Nos. 1, 3 and 4. Pillay downed Hellberg 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1, Cunningham posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over Miller at No. 3 and Redfern beat Becker 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4. "There are no excuses, Charlotte just played better than we did," head coach Jonathan Zych said. "We didn't execute well in doubles, and that hurt us. We're disappointed in the loss, but we feel our season as a whole was a successful one."
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