The second-ranked Georgia Gwinnett women's tennis team defeated sixth-ranked Brenau (Ga.) 8-1 in a NAIA Top 10 showdown on Thursday afternoon, capturing its 12th win of the 2016 season.

"The women played very well today.  An 8-1 win over the sixth-ranked team in the nation is very impressive," stated GGC head coach Chase Hodges.  "Our doubles play today was key as we established a 3-0 lead at the break which made things relatively simple for the rest of the match."

The Grizzlies (12-2) have now won two straight matches, collecting six victories against ranked opponents in the NAIA with four of the wins coming against Top 15 programs.

Georgia Gwinnett swept doubles play to go up 3-0 at the break.  The duo of Klara Dohnalova and Helga Pinones-Haltenhoff picked up the first Grizzly victory of the afternoon defeating Brenau's Kirsten Dickins and Kelley Cohron 8-1.  The third-ranked duo of Alyona Vasileva and Chiara Di Salvo collected GGC's second win of the afternoon with an 8-2 victory over Maya Mammetgulyyeva and Rebecca Pijls (8-2) while Valeria Podda and Sophie Feller wrapped up the 3-0 sweep at No. 1 doubles, defeating Fatyha Berjane and Patricia Recalde Pacua 8-1.

Pinones-Haltenhoff gave the Grizzlies the 4-0 lead in singles play, winning the No. 6 spot in straight sets (6-0, 6-0) against Cohron.  Di Salvo clinched Georgia Gwinnett's 12th win of the season with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at the No. 4 spot over Pacua.

Dohnalova (6-2, 7-5) and Vasileva (6-3, 6-0) also picked up points for the Grizzlies winning at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots, respectively.  GGC's eighth and final point of the match came at the number one singles post.  Podda, who is the NAIA's top-ranked singles player, defeated fifth-ranked Berjane 7-5, 5-7, 10-5 to conclude the match.

Brenau's lone win of the match came at No. 2 singles where Pijls won a tiebreaker against Feller (4-6, 6-4, 10-4).

The Grizzlies return to the GGC Tennis Facility on Sunday as they host Tusculum (Tenn.) on Senior Day.  Georgia Gwinnett will celebrate the collegiate careers of Pinones-Haltenhoff, Luma Schwab, and Victoria Svensson in a pre-match ceremony starting at 1:45 p.m.  The match, which begins at 2 p.m., will be broadcasted live on the Grizzly Digital Network.

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