ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Emory opened the 2014 University Athletic Association (UAA) Women's Tennis Championships on Friday with a 9-0 shutout of the New York University Violets at Sanlando Park.
Emory, seeded first in the draw, raised its season record to 21-2 for the season, three victories shy of the program's single-season record. It was the eighth shutout win of the season for the Eagles, who improved to 13-0 against Division III opponents in 2014.
During the match, Emory senior Gabrielle Clark collected wins in both the first singles and doubles matches, becoming just the second player in the program's history to accumulate 200 combined wins in singles and doubles play. Clark teamed with freshman Michelle Satterfield to win 8-0 in the first doubles match, giving her 103 doubles wins for her career, one behind Mary Ellen Gordon (2000-04) for second in school history and two behind Zahra Dawson (2008-12) for the program record. She later defeated NYU's Alison Wang 6-0, 6-0 in the first singles match to earn her 97th career singles victory, reaching the 200-combined win plateau.
Clark is now 19 combined victories behind Gordon's program record of 219. She is also just three singles wins shy of joining Gordon as the only two players in program history to reach the century mark in singles wins.
Emory claimed wins in each of the other two doubles matches as well, including another 8-0 decision at third doubles, won by freshmen Melissa Goodman and Michelle DeMeo. In the second doubles match, senior Brenna Kelly and freshman Katarina Su earned an 8-1 victory.
In addition to Clark's win in the first singles match, sophomore Beatrice Rosen won at second singles 6-0, 6-1. Other singles wins came from Satterfield in the third match (6-0, 6-1), Goodman in the fourth match (6-0, 6-1), sophomore Madison Gordon in the fifth match (6-0, 6-0) and DeMeo in the sixth match (6-0, 6-3).
The Violets dropped to 1-7 on the season with the loss.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, facing Chicago in the semifinals of the UAA championships. The Maroons, ranked 12th in Division III and seeded fourth in the tournament, defeated 22nd-ranked and fifth-seeded Brandeis 6-3 in the first round of the tournament on Friday to advance to the semifinals, improving to 10-8 overall for the year.
Chicago's lineup features both the top-ranked singles player in the Central Region, Megan Tang, along with the region's top-seeded doubles pairing of Tang and Tiffany Chen. The Maroons are the only other UAA program, besides the Eagles, to win a conference title, claiming the Association Championship in both 2010 and '12. Emory is 15-2 all-time against Chicago.
