HAMPTON, Va. – Malin Allgurin and
Nicole Parker capped their final regular season at Longwood with back-to-back singles wins to lead the Lancers to a 5-2 victory over Hampton Friday afternoon at Neilson-Screen Stadium.
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Allgurin, chasing her 60th career victory, swept Hampton ace Mikaela Pierce 6-0, 6-0 for her Longwood Division I-record 59th win. She is now one win shy of becoming only the second Lancer in program history to reach the 60-win plateau and will get a shot Monday as the 10-win Lancers kick off the first round of the Big South Conference Championship.
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"A 10-win season really says a lot about the character of these players," Longwood first-year head coach
Bruce Myers said. "Without a recruiting class and graduating two starters, they could have given up on this season but took it as a challenge."
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At 10-13 overall, Longwood's 10-win season is the program's first since 2011-12 and the third such season since the Lancers joined the Division I ranks in 2007-08. The 10 victories mark a seven-win increase from last season when the Lancers won three bouts in the spring.
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Key to Longwood's success in 2014-15 was the return of fifth-year senior Parker, who won her 12th singles bout of the year with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Hampton's Anastasiia Romanova. That win came in her first appearance this year in the No. 3 singles slot, a three-position jump from her normal No. 6 spot where she went 11-9 during the season.
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"We had some fun with the lineup today," Myers said. "We moved some people around, and it was good to get Lauren [Tucker] some match experience. She certainly deserved to play. Our two seniors picked up two good singles wins, too."
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Tucker, a walk-on sophomore who had competed in just one match prior to Friday, stepped in at the No. 4 singles spot and dropped a pair of hard-fought sets, 6-3, 7-5 (10-7) to Daneya Charles.
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Longwood also switched up the rotation in doubles action, unveiling new doubles pairings at No. 1 and No. 2 deploying Allgurin and No. 2 singles regular
Anna Pelak at the top spot and
Paloma Alatorre and
Mason Thomas in the No. 2 slot. Allgurin and Pelak handled the Hampton duo of Miarian Mitaishvili/Mikaela Pierce, 8-3, while Alatorre and Thomas swept Anastasiia Romanova Daneya Charles, 8-0.
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The victory is Longwood's second straight and puts the Lancers on a winning streak heading into the Big South Tournament in Asheville, N.C. Longwood is in line for a seven through nine seed.
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Longwood 5, Hampton 2Apr 10, 2015 at Hampton, Va. (Neilson-Screen Stadium)
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Singles competition1.
Malin Allgurin (LWU) def. Mikaela Pierce (HAM) 6-0, 6-0
2. Miarian Mitaishvili (HAM) def.
Maria Coronel (LWU) 6-3, 6-3
3.
Nicole Parker (LWU) def. Anastasiia Romanova (HAM) 6-1, 6-2
4. Daneya Charles (HAM) def.
Lauren Tucker (LWU) 6-3, 7-5 (10-7)
5.
Paloma Alatorre (LWU) wins by default
6.
Mason Thomas (LWU) wins by default
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Doubles competition1.
Malin Allgurin/
Anna Pelak (LWU) def. Miarian Mitaishvili/Mikaela Pierce (HAM) 8-3
2.
Paloma Alatorre/
Mason Thomas (LWU) def. Anastasiia Romanova/Daneya Charles (HAM) 8-0
3.
Nicole Parker/
Maria Coronel (LWU) win by default
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