SE Sports
Matt Thomas, Sports Information Director
DURANT – Southeastern used a pair of come-from-behind wind in doubles play to propel itself to a 5-0 victory on Monday afternoon over Augustana in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Region #2 Tournament hosted at the Southeastern Tennis Complex in Durant, Okla.
The win launches the Savage Storm into the final on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. to face Southwest Baptist for a berth in the NCAA National Finals in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
SE jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the strength of an 8-4 win at the three doubles position by Maria Martinez and Luisa Auffarth, but the doubles points got significantly harder after that.
Alexsandra Reljic and Darija Catipovic had to rally from as many as five down to knot their match at one doubles at 8-8 against Kornelia Staniszewski and Berkley Darr. The Storm pair would force a tiebreaker where they would pick up the 9-8 win thanks to a 7-3 edge in tiebreaker points.
Number two doubles was nearly the same story as Anna Buiukian and Samantha Coquinos rallied against the Vikings’ Taylor Jackson and Meredith Lawrence, taking the tiebreaker 7-4 to win the set 9-8 and give SE a doubles sweep and a 3-0 lead heading to singles play.
Auffarth would pick up the momentum there and cruise at the six position, downing Rebecca Falkner 6-0, 6-0 to stretch the Storm lead out to 4-0.
Buiukian would then close out the Southeastern victory at the two spot by taking a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Darr to clinch the match.
Four singles matches remained unfinished at that point, with Coquinos and Catipovic each holding leads with first set wins.
NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Central Region No. 2
No. 2 Southeastern Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Augustana
May 1, 2017 | 2 p.m.
Durant, OK | Southeastern Tennis Complex
DOUBLES
No. 1 Alexsandra Reljic/Darija Catipovic (SE) d.
Kornelia Staniszewska/Berkley Darr (AC), 9-8 (7-3)
No. 2 Anna Buiukian/Samantha Coquinos (SE) d.
Taylor Jackson/Meredith Lawrence (AC), 9-8 (7-4)
No. 3 Maria Martinez/Luisa Auffarth (SE) d.
Rebecca Falkner/Kaitlyn Motley (AC), 8-4
Order: No. 3, No. 1, No. 2
SINGLES
No. 1 Alexsandra Reljic (SE) vs. Kornelia Staniszewska (AC), 3-6, 2-2 UNF
No. 2 Anna Buiukian(SE) d. Berkley Darr (AC), 6-2, 6-0
No. 3 Samantha Coquinos (SE) vs. Taylor Jackson (AC), 6-3, 0-1 UNF
No. 4 Darija Catipovic (SE) vs. Christine Olivo (AC), 6-4 UNF
No. 5 Maria Martinez (SE) vs. Meredith Lawrence (AC), 4-6 UNF
No. 6 Luisa Auffarth (SE) d. Rebecca Falkner (AC), 6-0, 6-0
Order: No. 6, No. 2