March 6, 2008

Rome, Ga. - The No. 7 Berry women's tennis team won five of the six singles matches to beat No. 13 Shorter 6-3. The Lady Hawks took the early lead winning two of the three doubles matches.

Berry's only win came at the No. 2 doubles position where Emma Cruz and Kirstin Ruffner held on to win 9-7 over Danielle Monteith and Caroline Robert.

Shorter (4-3) got wins at No. 3 doubles, where Carolina Brigneti and Giuliana Luconi cruised to an 8-1 win over Rachael Feibelman and Barbara Tomai.

Lady Hawks Angelika Bondarenko and Lydie Ratsaraefadahy beat Kendal Ruffner and Anja Chan 8-3.

However, Berry (5-0) won four-straight singles matches to secure the win.

Cruz beat Bondarenko 6-2 in the final set of her match at No. 1 singles to seal the win for Berry. The two had split the first set with Bondarenko winning the first set 6-1 and Cruz winning the second 6-4.

Tomai got things started for the Lady Vikes as she completed her win first, 6-0, 6-1, over Robbi Brown. Kirstin Ruffner beat Monteith 6-0, 6-2 to level the contest at 3-3.

Ruffner made it 4-3 for Berry with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Ratsaraefadahy at the No. 2 doubles position, setting up Cruz to win the match.

After the outcome was no longer in doubt, Caroline Roberts defeated Chan 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Feibelman ended things with a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 win over Brigneti.

Shorter heads to Gulf Shores, Ala., for a tournament starting next Monday.