Women's Tennis 4/23/2022 8:31:00 PM

Panthers Fall Short in SBC Semifinals, Close Historic Turnaround Season

Box Score Peachtree City, Ga.— The Georgia State women's tennis team fell short of victory facing UT Arlington in the Sun Belt Conference Championship semifinals on Saturday. With the loss, head coach Hannah Keeling and the Panthers cap a historic turnaround season that saw the team secure a share of the SBC Regular-Season Title while posting a 17-6 record for the season.

The Panthers opened SBC Championship play in Peachtree City as the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament on Friday. GSU blanked Louisiana, 4-0, and tied the school-record for wins in a season at 17.

The semifinal match at Peachtree City Tennis Center saw the Panthers rematch UTA in a hard-fought battle having previously defeated the No. 68 ranked team, 4-2, in regular-season play.

GSU entered doubles and fell behind early on all three courts. Despite the slow start, doubles competition saw both teams battle for over 90 minutes as the Panthers rallied to force tiebreak sets on the second and third courts.

After dropping at the top court, senior Eva Chivu and freshman Pragnya Kumar charted a win, 7-6, at court position No. 3 and the Panthers evened the doubles count, 1-1. Senior Andreea Stanescu and sophomore Ellie Aldrich fought in a back-and-forth struggle at the second position with the duo narrowly falling, 7-6, and the Panthers falling behind in dual match play, 1-0.

GSU entered singles competition and quickly evened the match with Angel Carney's 17th straight victory, 6-3, 6-2, at the fourth singles court position. With the win, Carney ties the school record for consecutive wins in a season at 17.

Carney caps her spring 2022 campaign having received All-Sun Belt Second-Team honors for both singles and doubles play. The junior was named the SBC Player to Watch for 2022.

As the Panthers dropped singles courts No. 5 and No. 6, Stanescu charted a 13th victory for the season as the senior downed her opponent, 6-0, 7-5, at singles court No. 3 and earned GSU an additional point. Stanescu was named All-Sun Belt Singles Second-Team for the spring and finished unbeaten throughout the Panthers' conference slate.

3-2 down for the dual match, the Panthers saw first-set victories at each of the top court positions and the team positioned itself to clinch with potential second-set victories at courts No. 1 and No. 2. Chivu battled UTA at the No. 1 singles court while Sofya Golubovskaya played the second court to decide the outcome of the semifinal outing.

Despite strong efforts from Chivu and Golubovskaya and a gritty team-performance from the Panthers, UTA claimed the second set at each position and ultimately defeated GSU in three sets at court No. 2, 7-6, 3-6, 2-6. With the narrow loss, 4-2, the Panthers close out the spring 2022 season.

Keeling's first year as head coach for the Panthers would prove highly successful as the team finishes the season tied for most wins in school history. Posting a 2-19 record a season prior, 2022 marks the largest turnaround in school history and the first time GSU has followed up a losing season with a regular-season conference championship the following year.

The hiring of assistant coach Le'Trone Mason proved critical to the Panthers' success as the veteran coach brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team and its lineup. Mason joined the staff at GSU in the spring having coached for over 20 years at the collegiate level.

Chivu concludes a decorated four-year tenure with the Panthers being named All-Sun Belt Singles First-Team for the second time in her career. Coming to GSU as a graduate transfer from Syracuse, Golubovskaya closes out her final season of collegiate play collecting All-Sun Belt Doubles Second-Team honors while accumulating 14 wins at the top doubles court as well as 10 wins at No. 2 singles for 2022.

The Panthers will enter the offseason and prepare for fall 2022 play with the team's schedule set to be announced in the summer. Follow Georgia State women's tennis on Twitter (@GSUWTennis) and Instagram (@GSUWomensTennis) for continued updates and offseason coverage.

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Players Mentioned

Eva Chivu: 6' 1"; Freshman

Andreea Stanescu: 5' 4"; Freshman

Ellie Aldrich: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Angel Carney: 5' 3"; Junior

Pragnya Kumar: Freshman

Sofya Golubovskaya: 5' 6"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Eva Chivu
: 6' 1"; Freshman

Andreea Stanescu
: 5' 4"; Freshman

Ellie Aldrich
: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Angel Carney
: 5' 3"; Junior

Pragnya Kumar
: Freshman

Sofya Golubovskaya
: 5' 6"; Senior