FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.  Methodist's women's tennis team used a split squad to play different opponents Saturday afternoon, with the home squad defeating visiting Division II Fayetteville State University, 9-0, while the away unit was downed by Division I Elon University, 6-0.

Though the home match against the Broncos had been long decided, freshman Megan Kidd put an exclamation point on the shutout victory by rallying from a set down to win the second and third sets for the final point.

THE ESSENTIALS
Final scores: Methodist def. Fayetteville State 9-0; Elon def. Methodist 6-0
Records: Methodist 1-2, Fayetteville State 0-1, Elon 5-3
Locations: Gene Clayton Tennis Center, Fayetteville, N.C.; Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, Elon, N.C.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Methodist roared in front at home with a quick sweep of the three doubles matches, surrendering a total of just 3 games in going up 3-0.
• Freshman Valeria Matute earned the first singles point with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Lauryn Clark at No. 4 singles. But fellow newcomer Jillian Garrett wasn't far behind at 3-singles, also rolling to a straight-set win without dropping a game.
• Sophomore Bri Rado at No. 5 then sophomore Catherine Smith at No. 6 added two more straight set victories to push the Methodist advantage to 7-0, leaving only sophomore Jill Lawrence at 1-singles and Kidd at No. 2 still on the courts.
• Lawrence had a battle on her hands with Fayetteville State's Kristin Jackson, but the Monarch No. 1 gained steam as the match wore on, with Lawrence eventually finishing off a 6-3, 6-2 win.
• That left Kidd at No. 2, trying to rally against Arnisha Cosby, who had rolled to an opening-set 6-2 win.
• Kidd picked up momentum in the early going of the second set, moving to within a game of capturing the set at 5-4. But Cosby earned a service break to square the match, then surrendered a service break right back to Kidd. With the set in Kidd's favor, 6-5, Cosby made it three service breaks in a row to elevate the set to all square at 6-6, forcing a tiebreak for the set.
• Kidd never trailed in that tiebreak, winning it 7-4, and the set at 7-6, then never trailed in the third set, super-tiebreak, winning that 10-5 to complete the comeback, win the match, and put the cherry on top of Methodist's shutout.
• As expected in Elon, the Monarchs were up against it from the start as a D-III program playing up two divisions against the host Phoenix.
• The six singles matches took the courts first, and Elon played as expected, picking up straight-set shutouts at Nos. 3, 5 and 6 singles. Junior Casey Carroll earned a game in her second set at No. 4 but still came out on the wrong side of the racket, 6-0, 6-1.
• At No. 1 it was sophomore Abby Caddick squaring off against Alex Koniaev of Elon. Caddick wasn't a gimme for Koniaev, who had to work for her 6-2, 6-1 victory.
• The near-upset of the day occurred at 2-singles, where junior Taylor Jackson took Elon's Olivia Archer to a third set. Jackson won the first set, 6-4, before Archer would answer with a 6-3 win of her own in the second.
• The third set super-tiebreak fell Archer's way, 10-4, as she escaped a huge scare from Jackson.
• Playing under the D-I scoring rules, with the match decided the three doubles matches were not contested.

UP NEXT
The Monarchs will again split their squad for the next competition date on Saturday, with one crew heading to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where it will play Salisbury University and then host University of Mary Washington, while the other squad will entertain Guilford College at the Clayton Tennis Center.