Feb. 5, 2011

Fairfield, Conn. - Stony Brook University's women's tennis team opened the 2011 spring season with a 4-2 victory over the Fairfield Stags on Friday night.

Sophomore Nini Lagvilava (Tbilisi, Georgia) and junior Prerana Appineni (Hyderabad, India) lost at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, but the Seawolves rallied to victories at the No.3-6 spots to win the match. No doubles matches were played since the match had been decided in singles.

Junior Katherine Hanson (Smithtown, N.Y.), senior Gayatri Krishnan (Chennai, India) and sophomore Chloe Pike (Bristol, England) rolled to straight set victories at the No. 3-5 positions to give the Seawolves a 3-2 lead. Junior Salome Mkervalidze (Brewster, N.Y.) then defeated Alyssa Ruiz, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, to clinch the match for Stony Brook.

Stony Brook returns to action on Saturday, traveling to take on Columbia. First serve is set for 6 p.m.

Stony Brook 4, Fairfield 2
Singles
1. Yajima (Fairfield) def. Lagvilava (SBU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
2. Ryan (Fairfield) def. Appineni (SBU), 7-5, 7-6 (5)
3. Hanson (SBU) def. Liu (Fairfield), 6-0, 6-2
4. Krishnan (SBU) def. Jackson (Fairfield), 6-1, 6-1
5. Pike (SBU) def. Emhardt (Fairfield), 6-1, 6-0
6. Mkervalidze (SBU) def. Ruiz (Fairfield) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3