March 3, 2011

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Junior Mariya Slupska upended the 57th-ranked singles player in the country Thursday night to tally the only point for the Lady Tigers against No. 5 North Carolina (8-3) in a 6-1 defeat at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

Slupska, who joined Memphis this season from Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, throttled Tarheel Shinann Featherston 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 2 position.

Sophomores Courtney Collins and Kelly Gray had a tough slate all night long, falling to the No. 5 doubles team in Featherston and Lauren McHale, 8-3, before facing ranked players in singles. No. 114 Collins fell to 14th-ranked Zoe De Bruycker in the top flight 6-2, 6-4, while Gray suffered a loss at No. 4 singles to No. 105 McHale, 6-0, 6-2.

Earlier in the day, the Lady Tigers, now 4-6 overall, blanked North Carolina Central University at the NCCU Tennis Courts in Durhman, N.C., 7-0.

"We had a lot of energy and we tried to dominate from the first point in our matches this morning," Slupska said. "We took advantage of the opportunity to win."

All three doubles pairings put together strong outings against the Lady Eagles and picked up the first point of the match quickly. The dominating fashion continued into singles play, where all six flights were taken in straight-sets with no NCCU opponent winning more than one game in any set.

Memphis will now make its way to Charleston, S.C., for its next dual match on Saturday against the College of Charleston, which is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.

Live scoring for Saturday's match can be found by clicking here.

No. 5 UNC 6, MEMPHIS 1
Singles
No. 1 - #14 Zoe De Bruycker (UNC) def. #114 Courtney Collins (MEM) 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 - Mariya Slupska (MEM) def. #57 Shinann Featherston (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 - Jelena Durisic (UNC) def. Stefanie Mikesz (MEM) 6-0, 6-2
No. 4 - #105 Lauren McHale (UNC) def. Kelly Gray (MEM) 6-0, 6-2
No. 5 - Haley Hemm (UNC) def. Kathleen Hawkins (MEM) 7-5, 6-2
No. 6 - Laura Slater (UNC) def. Andrea Arques-Garcia (MEM) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 - #5 Featherston/McHale (UNC) def. Collins/Gray (MEM) 8-1
No. 2 - Hemm/De Bruycker (UNC) def. Slupska/Hawkins (MEM) 8-2
No. 3 - Durisic/Slater (UNC) def. Mikesz/Arques-Garcia (MEM) 8-2

MEMPHIS 7, NCCU 0
Singles
No. 1 - #114 Courtney Collins (MEM) def. Olesya Palko (NCCU) 6-1,6-1
No. 2 - Mariya Slupska (MEM) def. Cameron Chatman (NCCU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 - Stefanie Mikesz (MEM) def. Fredrica Larsson-Lombard (NCCU) 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 - Kelly Gray (MEM) def. Kelly Chaparro (NCCU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 5 - Kathleen Hawkins (MEM) def. Maria Nedstrom (NCCU) 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 - Andrea Arques-Garcia (MEM) def. Tatiana Velasquez (NCCU) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 - Collins/Grey (MEM) def. Chatman/Palko (NCCU) 8-3
No. 2 - Slupska/Hawkins (MEM) def. Lombard/Nedstrom (NCCU) 8-3
No. 3 - Mikesz/Garcia (MEM) def. Velasquez/Chaparro (NCCU) 8-1