Women's Tennis | 2/17/2014 10:14:00 PM

ATLANTA – The SCAD Atlanta women's tennis team started their season with two impressive victories over Union College and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC). While the resounding 9-0 victory over Union goes into the books as a win, the match against the 15th-ranked ABAC is what could catapult the Bees onto a stellar season.

The Bees had to overcome adversity early as one of their top returners, Katya Kiseleva, had to miss the match with an illness. Teammate Natalie Palmer rose to the occasion and helped lead the Bees to victory by winning in both doubles and singles. Lee-Anne Lingo, an All-AAC first team member last season, returned to form to convincingly win her singles match against ABAC's Kelly Burge, one of the top NJCAA players in the region. SCAD Atlanta's Elisa Freitas and newcomer, Emma Bilyeu, came up huge for the Bees as they each tallied singles victories.

"The women showed great depth today, dealing with a last-minute illness and still managing to find a way to win," stated Coach Glen Hill. "Elisa Freitas really stepped up, taking the #3 doubles with Natalie Palmer and then winning at #4 singles in a solid performance. LeeAnne Lingo played an incredible match at #1 singles, beating one of the strongest NJCAA 1 players in the region 6-2, 6-0. If we can keep this quality of play up we're going to have a great season."

The Bees return to action on Friday, February 21st as the host Dalton State College at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center.

Doubles:
Lingo/Peters (SCAD) def. Burge/Mitchell (ABAC) 8-4
Abdallah/Chon Qui (ABAC) def. Gancev/Bilyeu (SCAD) 8-6
Freitas/Palmer (SCAD) def. Cook/Humphrey (ABAC) 8-2

Singles:
Lingo (SCAD) def. Burge (ABAC) 6-2, 6-0
Abdallah (ABAC) def. Peters (SCAD) 6-3, 6-3
Mitchell (ABAC) def. Gancev (SCAD) 6-3, 6-0
Freitas (SCAD) def. Chon Qui (ABAC) 6-3, 6-4
Bilyeu (SCAD) def. Cook (ABAC) 6-1, 6-4
Palmer (SCAD) def. Humphrey (ABAC) 6-7 (5), 6-3, (10-6)