Teresa Durham, Staff Writer
Despite injuries and some demanding games, Lady Pirates crushed Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) Sharks on Tuesday afternoon, March 7.
A tough opponent, HPU lady Sharks are ranked fifth by the ITA.
In an almost four-hour clash, the matches were lengthy and intense. Two of the singles matches ran into third-set 10-point tiebreakers that were the only matches HPU won.
The No. 1 doubles’ match was an 8-1 defeat of Sharks’ junior Oceane Adam and senior Nicole Hoynaski by the Pirates’ No. 2-ITA-ranked doubles pair Lena Lutzeier and Diana Stomlega that began the win over HPU.
Armstrong’s junior and sophomore team Tamri Chalaganidze and Alice Patch took No. 2 doubles’ 8-6 against HPU juniors Leticia dos Santos and Lara Meccico.
8-4 was the final score for No. 3 doubles’ in favor of Armstrong’s freshmen Paula Boixader Roca and Tatjana Stoll.
The singles’ matches were just as exciting and fierce.
No. 1 singles tiebreaker was the last match, finishing with the largest score for the day. Ranked eighth in singles, senior Nicole Hoynaski had a drawn-out power struggle with our rank-11 in singles Lena Lutzeier that was hindered by Lutzeier being injured.
Hoynaski made a comeback for the second set (6-4) after losing the first at 3-6. Throughout the last set, Lutzeier would be seen by the medical assistant. With the score 4-0, Hawaii called for a medical timeout. This seemed to put Lutzeier back on her game. She made several points and at 9-3, Hawaii even did a service ace. Unfortunately, the game ended the next turn at 10-4.
Pirate freshman Paula Boixader Roca was defeated by Shark junior Lara Meccico in the second and last tiebreak match for No. 2 singles at 10-3 for the third set. Same as Lutzeier, Roca won the first set, Meccico came back, 4-6 HPU. Roca made a valiant attempt versus an older player and kept Meccico on her toes the entire match. The tiebreaker ended at 10-3.
Armstrong freshman Tatjana Stoll beat out junior Oceane Adam for No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-2. No. 4 singles was between No. 13-ranked Pirate Diana Stomlega and Barbora Kijasova with Stomlega winning at 6-4, 6-2.
Both juniors, opponent Leticia dos Santos easily fell to Pirates’ Tamri Chalaganidze in No. 5 singles, just making two games off Chalaganidze (6-1, 6-1). Pirates’ Alice Patch did the same as her fellow team member in the No. 6 singles’ match, prevailing against freshman Bianca Schulhof with two 6-1 sets.
