Peach Belt showdown! Eighth-ranked Clayton State hosts second-ranked Armstrong Atlantic in women’s tennis
Lakers put undefeated 8-0 overall mark and 5-0 record in Peach Belt on the line against Lady Pirates

MORROW, Ga. – March 10, 2008 – For more than the last decade, the Lady Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic have been the benchmark program for women’s tennis in the Peach Belt Conference.

The list is distinguished – NCAA Division II National Championships in 1995, 1996 and 2005, and NCAA Division II runner-up finishes in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2006. Add to that nine Peach Belt Conference regular season championships and 13 PBC Tournament championships, and you have a legitimate tennis dynasty in the Peach Belt Conference.

Well, the Clayton State Lakers are aiming to be at the same level as Armstrong, and they are making significant progress towards that stature. The two teams are now on a collision course this week as Clayton State squares off against Armstrong Atlantic on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Jonesboro’s International Park.

It’s a showdown of the conference’s top two teams – Armstrong Atlantic enters the match 11-0 overall and 7-0 in the Peach Belt, while Clayton State is 8-0 and 5-0 in the Peach Belt. In addition, the two teams are both ranked in the Top 10 in Division II – Armstrong Atlantic is ranked second and Clayton State is ranked eighth in the new poll.

Not only will be two of the top teams in the nation, but also featuring numerous individual nationally-ranked players.

The showdown will be at No. 1 doubles, where the 15th-ranked Clayton State team of Anna Redecsi and Julia Chergova will square off against Armstrong Atlantic’s 10th-ranked team of Gabriella Kovacs and Iuliia Stupak. Redecsi and Chergova are the two-time defending ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional champions in women’s doubles.

In addition to doubles, there will be some tremendous match-ups in singles. Redecsi, ranked 15th in the nation, battles the Lady Pirates’ Stupak at No. 1, while Chergova, who is ranked 47th, will have a showdown against the second-ranked Dahlback at No. 2. At No. 3, Clayton State’s Viktoriya Semyrodrenko squares off against seventh-ranked Alida Muller-Wehlau from Armstrong Atlantic.