Dins Defeat Mercer, Setting Stage for Potential SoCon Title and NCAA Run

Lady Paladin Tennis soundly defeated Mercer in one of the last home matches of the year.

The Bears failed to take a single set against the Paladins in any of the nine matches played.

Lily Sanford

By Nate Place

April 13, 2021

The Paladins Women’s Tennis Team sent the Mercer Bears back to Macon after sweeping them 7-0 in a dual on Thursday Apr. 8. The Bears failed to take a single set against the Paladins in any of the nine matches played; the only Bear remotely close to taking a se was Mary Courville who forced Julia Adams to a tiebreaker in the first set of their singles match.

Following the match, Kozarov was named the Southern Conference women's tennis player of the week for all matches played April 5-11, the SoCon office announced on Monday Apr. 12.

 Here is the box score of the dual, listed by chronological order of finish:

#22 Kozarov/Adams def. Courville/Rich 6-0

Dillon/Rompf def. Yordanova/Hollyfield 6-2

Pate/Schoppe def. Varudandi/Chavarria 6-1

Rompf def. Varudandi 6-1, 6-0

Dillon def. Rich 6-2, 6-0

#9 Kozarov def. Hollyfield 6-2, 6-1

Adams def. Courville 7-5, 6-2

Pate def. Yordanova 8-3

Schoppe def. Popham 8-3

Led by Katarina Kozarov (ranked 9th in the country overall, and 1st among mid-majors) and Julia Adams (ranked 13th among mid-majors), who form the 22nd-ranked (and 1st among mid-majors) doubles team in the nation, The Paladins now prepare for their final dual of the regular season against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers on April 18th, in what will effectively be the SoCon regular-season championship. 

The winner will play the 4th seed, Western Carolina, and the loser will play the 3rd seed, Wofford, in the SoCon Semifinals in Birmingham on April 23rd, with the Championship on the 24th. It should be noted that the only real clarity regarding the playoff field is regarding the Paladins and the Buccaneers; all six of the other teams in the SoCon are mathematically in contention for the final two semifinal spots. The winner of the SoCon Championship will earn an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Championship, which will run from May 16th to May 28th at the USTA Campus in Orlando. 