GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG women's tennis team opened conference play with a solid 4-3 victory against Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Tennis Courts.

With the victory, UNCG improves to 3-4, 1-0 in the SoCon on the season while Georgia Southern falls to 4-5, 0-2 in the SoCon.

The Spartans won all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the contest. At No. 1 doubles, Devon Sutherland (Lake Wylie, S.C./Clover) and Kayla Gammie (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Broward Virtual School) defeated Paola Garrido and Giulia Riepe, 8-4.  Senior Dilara Yurtkuran (Istanbul, Turkey/Gunes Koleji) and Yasmin Franco (Largo, Fla./Indian Rocks Christian) easily down Caitlin Kitchen and Mary Phillips Smith, 8-2 at No. 2 doubles. In the final doubles match, Stephanie Falcon (Marietta, Ga./Walton) and Soumeya Anane (Coventry, Great Britain/Tile Hill Wood School) won 8-5 against Stephanie Woods and Jordana Klien at No. 3 doubles.

In singles, Gammie won in straight sets at No. 3 singles against Daria Vasekina, 6-0, 6-2 to give UNCG a 2-0 lead. Anane downed Klein, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 1 singles for the third point.

Franco clinched the match with a straight sets victory against Woods, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 4 singles. Phillips Smith defeated sophomore Amy Ellis (Cheshire, Great Britain/Newcastle Under Lyme School), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) at No. 6 singles.  
 
Garrido won in three sets against Falcon, 6-1, 6-7 (8-10), 1-0 (10-3), at No. 2 singles. Falcon won a tight second set tiebreaker 10-8 but fell in the super tiebreaker 10-3.

In the final match, sophomore Jamie Grinberg (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) lost a close match against Riepe, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9) at No. 5 singles. Grinberg battled back and forth but fell just short 11-9 in the super tiebreaker making the score 4-3 UNCG.

 The Spartans return to action Saturday, March 8 at Stetson at noon in Deland, Fla.  

Follow all the action about the 2014 UNCG Women's tennis team on www.UNCGSpartans.com or on twitter @UNCGsports. 

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