Virginia Tech 6, UNCG 1
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Niltooli Wilkins provided the lone point for UNCG at No. 1 singles as the Spartans dropped their season-opening match to Virginia Tech, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.
The Spartans (0-1) fell behind early as they narrowly dropped the doubles point. Stephanie MacFarlane and Alex Whitehead took the first match as they won at No. 2 doubles, 8-3. The next match to finish was at No. 1 doubles as Niltooli Wilkins and Lucy Dougherty fell to the Hokies' Yasmin Hamza and Holly Johnson, 8-3, to knot things at one.
All eyes were then on the No. 3 doubles match between UNCG's Annette Rios and Dilara Yurtkuran and Katie Blow and Tea Ivanovic from Virginia Tech. UNCG broke the Hokie serve to tie the match at 5 in the match, but Virginia Tech broke right back to go ahead, 6-5. The teams would stay on serve the rest of the way as the duo of Blow and Ivanovic took the match, 8-6, to claim the doubles point for the Hokies.
The Hokies, who moved to 2-0 this season after defeating Richmond 6-1 earlier in the day, received strong play from their singles players. Ivanovic put the Hokies ahead 2-0 in the match after scoring a 6-1, 6-1 win over Yurtkuran at No. 4 singles.
Hamza made it 3-0 in favor of the home side as she finished right after Ivanovic with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles against Whitehead. Virginia Tech clinched the match at No. 3 singles as MacFarlane dropped her match, 6-0, 6-1, to Johnson.
The next match to wrap up was at No. 6 singles where Mikayla Rogers fell to Isel Martinex-Marcos, 6-2, 6-1. The Hokies were able to push their lead to 6-0 as Emily Lauten scored a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dougherty.
The bright spot for the Spartans on Sunday was at No. 1 singles at Wilkins defeated Blakely. The first set was real tight as the two players went back and forth, but Wilkins was able to win the first set in the tiebreaker, 7-6. She would go on to take the second set, 6-2, to win the lone singles match for UNCG.
UNCG will return home for its home opener on Saturday as the Spartans host Coastal Carolina at 10 a.m. at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center.
William & Mary 4, College of Charleston 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The No. 69-ranked College of Charleston women's tennis team was edged by No. 57-ranked William & Mary, 4-3, in the consolation round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend held Sunday afternoon at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
The Cougars (0-2) started the day off strong against the Tribe (2-2) as the No. 2 doubles tandem comprised of sophomore Christin Newman and freshman Kelly Kambourelis defeated William & Mary's Lauren Sabacinski and Marlen Mesgarzadeh, 8-6, to clinch the doubles point.
Newman went on to claim the first singles point with a 6-0, 6-2 straight-set victory over William & Mary's top player, Nina Vulovich, to give CofC a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back wins by Marlen Mesgarzadeh and Anik Cepeda at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions evened the match at two-all.
W&M's Hope Johnson topped Emma Hayman in three sets, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 2 singles, while junior Katie Lee leveled the playing field once more with a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Marivick Mamiit at the No. 6 line.
The nearly five-hour match was ultimately decided by a three-set thriller in which W&M's Katie Kargl and CofC's Kelly Kambourelis split sets at 7-5 each, but Kargl would win the decisive set by a count of 6-2.
The Cougars will return to action with a dual match scheduled at North Carolina State on Sunday, Feb. 6 at noon (ET) in Raleigh, N.C.