Women's tennis earns first PBC tourney title

The University of North Georgia (UNG) women's tennis team has become the latest Nighthawks program to make history during the 2023-24 academic year. UNG, the No. 3 team in the nation, tallied a 4-2 triumph against No. 8 Flagler on April 28 in Columbus, Georgia, to secure the Nighthawks' first Peach Belt Conference (PBC) tournament championship in the sport.

Next up for the UNG women's tennis team, which has already tied a program record with 22 victories and has one loss all year, is the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. If the current rankings hold when regional pairings are announced May 6, UNG will host the regional as the No. 1 seed at the UNG Tennis Complex at Yahoola Creek Park in Dahlonega, Georgia.

"This is a special group of women. I'm so proud of the way they rebounded from losing the doubles point in the championship. I'm so happy for the group for winning the PBC tournament," women's and men's tennis head coach Kent Norsworthy said. "They have handled adversity so well all season. We are excited to host a very tough field for the regional this year. This group is up for the challenge."

Junior Ashley Moinard, senior Viktorie Wojcikova, senior Lana Teterina, and senior Valentina Ascarrunz earned singles wins for the Nighthawks in the championship match. UNG had defeated Georgia College and State University 4-0 a day earlier in the PBC semifinals. 

"Our team loves to compete and play for each other. We have since day one had the big end goal of going to nationals in Orlando, Florida," Teterina said. "We always strive for the best and try to go as far as possible. A phrase we use is, 'We are not done yet.' We love to represent UNG and create history for the program."

Despite being the best team in the PBC all season long, the Nighthawks still felt an urgency to prove themselves with a conference championship, having never done so before. 

"We might be the favorites on paper, but we were still the underdogs," Norsworthy said. "Our catchphrase was, 'We need to go hunting for those wins.' We're not letting anyone chase us anymore. We need to go hunting for wins, and we did that all season." 

Senior Johanna Lippert said the team was grateful to win the PBC but hungry for more.

"The biggest goal that we have set for ourselves is to qualify for the Sweet 16 and go to nationals this year. We have four seniors on the team who have never been able to get to this stage, and the entire team wants it very badly this year," Lippert said. "We are willing to do whatever it takes for us to go as deep as possible in this year's NCAA national tournament."

During the same weekend, the top-seeded UNG softball team moved closer to its 10th consecutive PBC tournament title with a trio of wins, capped by a 9-0 defeat of Flagler. The Nighthawks will host PBC No. 2 seed Columbus State from May 3-4 in a best-of-three PBC championship series. Game 1 is at 3 p.m. May 3, followed by Game 2 at noon May 4, with Game 3 immediately following if necessary.

The UNG softball team defeated Augusta University 8-0 April 26 before defeating Flagler 9-4 and 9-0 the next two days to cruise through its four-team pod of the PBC tournament and reach the championship series.

Senior pitcher Tybee Denton struck out a combined 19 batters in a pair of shutout outings, and Kristen Davis struck out nine in earning the other pitching win of the weekend. Denton improved to 25-2 in the circle, while Davis is 18-5.