Opponent:
Salem at Brevard | April 16 | Brevard, N.C. | 3 p.m. | McCoy Tennis Complex
FINAL REGULAR SEASON ROAD TRIP SENDS SALEM TO BREVARD
The Salem tennis team closes out the road portion of its 2023-24 regular season schedule on Tuesday afternoon in Brevard, N.C.
The Spirits have fared well on the road this season, boasting a 4-2 record away from the Bert Lain Tennis Complex. Two of those wins came in March against William Peace (7-2) and Columbia College (5-4). Salem also posted road wins against Guilford (7-2) and Ferrum in September and February, respectively.
SCHEDULE CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
After moving the date on the match with Mary Baldwin on two occasions, the two teams have officially moved the site of the match from Staunton, Virginia, to Winston-Salem, N.C., where they will play on April 19th at 3 p.m.
Salem tennis also canceled its final non-conference match of the season against Randolph, which was postponed on April 4th due to weather.
No. 1 DOUBLES SHINES VERSUS N.C. WESLEYAN
Facing its second match in a three-day stretch the Salem tennis team suffered a USA South Conference setback to defending league champion N.C. Wesleyan at the Bert Lain Tennis Center by a 9-0 margin.
The Spirits were tripped up in the No. 3 clash that featured N.C. Wesleyan's Andrea Elaez Miranda and Linda Nhiwatiwa, who downed Cadence Durham and Abrielle Eckenroth by an 8-0 margin. By the same score, the Battling Bishop tandem of Ajla Selimovic and Ivanna Torres, who downed Alana Bridges and Alyx Diggs.
The best match up of doubles came in No. 1 action, where the duo of N.C. Wesleyan's Elisa Mariott and Cristina Romero edged out Salem's Adley Keim and Mariana Faint by an 8-6 margin.
Leading 3-0 heading into singles play, N.C. Wesleyan claimed one of its six points in No. 1 action, as Mariotti defeated Keim by scores of 6-0, 6-0. Romero was also responsible for a singles victory for the visitors, posting a 6-0, 6-3 win over Faint in No. 2 action.
Miranda, like Mariotti, delivered a straight set victory (6-0, 6-0) over Durham in the meeting of No. 3 singles. Bridges notched two points for the Spirits in No. 4 singles, but fell by scores of 6-1, 6-1 to Torres in No. 4 action.
Selimovic provided a point in No. 5 singles, posting a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Eckenroth. Meanwhile, Nhiwatiwa came through with a 6-1, 6-1 win against Diggs in No. 6 singles play.
JOCKEYING FOR POSITIONS IN THE STANDINGS
The Spirits head into the final week of the regular season sixth in the USA South Conference standings. Salem, which is 2-3 on the season in league play, has one more win than both William Peace (1-4) and Meredith (1-6) and two more than Mary Baldwin (0-6). The Spirits have a tiebreaker over both William Peace and Meredith, who they defeated earlier this season.
With a win on Tuesday afternoon against Brevard, Salem would climb to fifth in the league standings with only Mary Baldwin on the schedule.
N.C. Wesleyan sits atop the standings with a 7-0 mark, while Southern Virginia and Methodist are tied for second with both teams at 5-1. Pfeiffer is fourth with a 4-3 mark in league play, while Brevard sits in fifth with a 3-3 mark.
HOW THE SPIRITS STACK UP IN THE FINAL WEEK OF REGULAR SEASON
The Spirits are wrapping up their final week of the 2023-24 regular season with a pair of matches against Brevard (April 16th) and Mary Baldwin (April 19th). Those two matches put the finishing touches on a five-match month, which included clashes with Meredith, Southern Virginia and N.C. Wesleyan in succession.
-The tandem of Faint and Keim have delivered six doubles wins for the Spirits, all from the No. 1 seed. Meanwhile, while Durham has paired with Abrielle Eckenroth to win three straight doubles matches, two of which came as the No. 3 seed. The only other pairing with multiple doubles victories is Bridges and Emily Griffis, who have two wins in doubles action in 2023-24.
-Three Spirits—Alana Bridges, Cadence Durham and Adley Keim—lead the way for the team in singles wins with five. Bridges has come through with four wins in No. 5 singles, while Durham has earned all five of her victories in No. 3 singles. Keim stands 5-8 as the No. 1 seed this season.
-Keim was the first to reach four singles wins on the season, winning her first four singles outings of the season. Three of those victories for the Indiana first-year came in the fall slate and the most recent singles win came in the first match of the season, against Ferrum, with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Morgan Hundley. The Hoosier State native claimed her fifth singles victory on Saturday in three sets against Meredith's Ellie Osborne. It marked Keim's second three-set win of the season and first since defeating Megan Rekieta (Pfeiffer) on September 30th.
ANALYZING BREVARD IN 2023-24 | 7-6 / 3-3 USA South
Salem All-Time (vs. Brevard): The two schools have met on just one other occasion, which came on April 18, 2023 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
April 18, 2023 Recap: The Brevard tennis team claimed a 9-0 victory over host Salem when two clashed at the Bert Lain Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon in USA South Conference action.
Salem's day was highlighted by the return of senior Haley Gilley, who has missed a significant portion of the season due to a fractured ankle. The Spirits suffered an 8-1 loss to Brevard's No. 1 seeded doubles pair Hannah Hersh and Alli Kogoy, who defeated Emily Griffis and Alana Bridges. That was followed by a Hamrick Perry and Savannah Anderson win in No. 3 doubles over Alyson Gammons and Abrielle Eckenroth by an 8-4 margin.
Brooke Garland and Sophie Trantham completed the doubles sweep for the Tornados with an 8-4 victory against Ashley Linden and Cadence Durham.
Brevard grabbed a 4-0 advantage with a 6-0, 6-0 victory by Kogoy in No. 2 singles against Griffis. The Tornados secured the team victory as Hersh posted a 6-2, 6-1 win against Durham in No. 1 singles. The sixth Brevard point came by virtue of a 6-2, 6-1 triumph from Garland in her No. 3 singles clash with Bridges.
Perry was responsible for the seventh Brevard point of the afternoon, defeating Gammons in No. 5 singles by scores of 6-2, 6-1. Gilley, competing from the fourth seed for Salem in her return, suffered a 6-1, 6-1 setback to Brevard's Trantham. The final Tornado point came from the No. 6 seed, Anderson, who fought past Linden in three sets by scores of 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.
BREVARD IN 2023-24: The Tornados are 7-6 on the season and 3-3 in USA South Conference action this season. Brevard has won three matches at the McCoy Tennis Complex, along with four on the road, winning two of its last three contests. Those victories came against Mary Baldwin (8-0) and Maryville (6-3) on April 6th and April 10th, respectively.
The Tornados had their two-match winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville, N.C., as Methodist posted a 7-2 victory. Brevard has both Salem and Southern Virginia, who they host on April 20th, remaining on the 2023-24 regular season schedule.