In a meeting of a pair of reigning National Championship women's tennis teams at the Woodruff Physical Education Center on Thursday afternoon, the top-ranked Emory University Eagles defeated the top-ranked NAIA team, Georgia Gwinnett College, 8-1.

Emory has now won five-straight matches, improving to 5-1 on the season, while Georgia Gwinnett dropped to 2-1 on the year with the loss.

For the fifth-consecutive match, the Eagles were able to jump out to a 3-0 lead by sweeping all three doubles contests.  The first to finish was Emory's third doubles team of sophomore Michelle Satterfield and freshman Bridget Harding, who picked up an 8-0 win over Georgia Gwinnett's Chiara Di Salvo and Helga Pinones-Haltenhoff.  Soon thereafter, the Eagles claimed an 8-2 win at second doubles, with junior Beatrice Rosen and sophomore Melissa Goodman besting Luma Schwab and Victoria Svensson.  Completing the sweep were freshman Anna Fuhr and sophomore Katarina Su with an 8-4 win at first doubles over Valeria Podda and Laura Wehner.

Claiming wins for the Eagles in singles action were Rosen, 6-2, 6-1 over Judith van Fraaijenhoven in the second match, Satterfield, 6-0, 6-2 over Schwab in the third match, Goodman, 6-4, 6-0 over Wehner in the fourth match, Harding, 6-4, 6-0 over Di Salvo in the fifth match, and freshman Julie Fowler, 6-2, 7-5 over Pinones-Haltenhoff in the sixth match.

Emory's lone setback was at first singles, where Su fell to Podda (ranked fourth in singles in the NAIA), 6-2, 6-2.

The Eagles were also slated to play a 6:00 pm match against Berry College on Thursday, but the contest was cancelled, as the Vikings were unable to make the trip down to Atlanta due to bad weather in the area.

Emory will be back in action this weekend, with a match just added to the schedule on Thursday.  The Eagles will take on NCAA Division I program Charleston Southern University (3-0) at the Fair Oaks Club in Marietta, Georgia on Saturday, February 28^th, as a part of the Kennesaw State Tournament.