LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The top-ranked and two-time defending NCAA Division II national champion Armstrong Atlantic team continued its strong spring break trip out west with a 9-0 victory against No. 4 Hawaii Pacific at the Darling Tennis Center.
The Pirates (13-1) have now picked up a pair of 9-0 wins at Darling while Hawaii Pacific (12-2) sees its six-match win streak come to a close, also dropping its first match to a DII team this season.
Armstrong picked up all three doubles matches to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles play. The No. 2-ranked duo of Aleksandra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova edged Celina Goetti and Karen Ramirez 8-6 at No. 1 doubles, while the No. 6-ranked duo of Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa blanked Lorena Gheorghe and Magdalena Smejova 8-0 at No. 2 doubles. Clara Perez and Carolina Prats-Millan completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 win against Vivian Hansen and Lea Kruse-Utermann at No. 3 doubles.
With tennis legend Steffi Graf in attendance at the Darling Tennis Center during singles play, Armstrong swept all six singles matches to complete the sweep. No. 3-ranked Filipovski downed Ramirez 6-0, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, while No. 16-ranked Hacke bested Gheorghe 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Prats-Millan downed Smejova 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4 singles and No. 6-ranked Perez bested Hansen, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 5 singles. No. 24-ranked Olga Kalodzitsa defeated Kruse-Utermann 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6 singles. No. 15-ranked Krtickova had to go to a third-set 10-point tiebreaker to outlast No. 34-ranked Goetti 6-4, 3-6 (10-6) to round out the singles scoring.
