March 16, 2012
Columbia, Mo. – No. 56 Missouri opened conference play as they faced the No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies on Friday, March 16th at the Green Tennis Center. This was the first outdoor match on the new courts.
Singles play commenced first and senior Nina Pantic (Lake Worth, Fla.) faced No.7 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar. Sanchez-Quintanar was able to topple Pantic 6-1, 6-2 on Court No. 1. Aggie, No. 70, Sun Wen stopped junior Maria Christensen (Hellerup, Denmark) in two sets 6-0, 6-1, while senior Jamie Mera (Tampa, Fla.) challenged Aggie Lauren Santacroce in the first set but came up short 3-6. Santacroce took the second set 6-1. Junior Annemijn Koenen (St. Charles, Ill.) fought hard but Janine Erasmus overcame her in two sets 6-1, 6-2. No. 93 Rachel Stuhlmann (St. Louis, Mo.) rivaled No. 111 Nazari Urbina. Urbina dominated the first set 6-0 but Stuhlmann put up a fight in the second but was unable to capitalize the win (4-6). Freshman Alex Clark (London, England) finished up singles play on a positive note for the Tigers. While Clark dropped her first set (3-6) against Janelle Cuthbertson, she came back in the second set 6-4 and downed her opponent 10-6 in the tiebreaker.
In doubles, seniors Pantic and Mera pressured Sanchaz-Quintanar and Wen throughout the match. Both duos fought back and forth but it was Missouri who championed Texas A&M 8-6. The Aggies were able to snag the doubles point to secure a 6-1 win against the Tigers after the pairing of Santacroce and Olivier defeated Clark and Chiaf 8-1 and Urbina and Cutherbertson overcame Stuhlmann and Koenen 8-3.
Missouri will face Texas on Sunday, March 18th at noon. This will be the Tigers second conference matchup.
Singles:
1. No. 7 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar def. Nina Pantic, 6-1, 6-2
2. No. 111 Nazari Urbina def. No. 93 Rachel Stuhlmann, 6-0, 6-4
3. No.70 Sun Wen def. Maria Christensen, 6-0, 6-1
4. Lauren Santacroce def. Jamie Mera, 6-3, 6-1
5. Alex Clark def. Janelle Cuthbertson, 3-6, 6-4 (10-6)
6. Janine Erasmus def. Annemijn Koenen, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles:
1. Nina Pantic/Jamie Mera Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar/Sun Wen
2. Nazari Urbina/Janelle Cuthbertson def. Rachel Stuhlmann/Annemijn Koenen, 8-3
3. Lauren Santacroce/Sheri Olivier def. Alex Clark/Ashleigh Chiaf, 8-1