Players from West Virginia’s tennis team competed at the University of Virginia’s Wahoowa Invitational Friday through Sunday and found success in both singles and doubles play.
The players participating in the weekend were grad student Ting-Pei Chang, who is returning for her third season as a Mountaineer, redshirt sophomore Maja Dodik, senior Momoko Nagato, and graduate student Love-Star Alexis, who played her final season at Middle Tennessee State last year. Each player participated in the singles and doubles competitions, with Chang partnering with Nagato and Dodik pairing with Alexis in doubles play.
Friday, the Mountaineers opened their tournament schedule with wins for each of their participating players. Love-Star Alexis won both of her matches on Friday against Princeton opponents, defeating her singles opponent 7-5, 6-4 and winning her doubles match with Dodik 6-3. Chang and Nagato were victorious in doubles as well, defeating Dimitrova and Zink from Penn State 6-2 but losing their second match 6-4 to Princeton’s Velaga and Elbaz. Nagaton, Chang, and Dodik each lost in day one of singles.
On the tournament’s second day, Chang and Nagato rested in doubles due to playing two matches on Friday. Alexis and Dodik fell in their second doubles match to Dunlap and Kuearum from Iowa State, who went on to win the invitational doubles championship. Kuearum and Dunlap were also victorious over the Mountaineers in singles on Saturday, with 120th Anna Supapitch Kuearum defeating Love-Star Alexis 6-1, 6-2 and Maja Dodik barely falling to Isabella Dunlap 7-5, 7-6.
Momoka Nagato defeated Penn State’s Katerina Dimitrova for the second straight day, this time in singles, as the senior won 6-3, 7-6. Chang evened her singles record for the invitational as well, defeating Iowa State’s Nicholls 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday.
Wahoowa’s final day saw victories from all Mountaineers once again, as Alexis was the only Mountaineer to lose her singles match on Sunday, falling short against Cate Broerman from JMU 6-4, 6-2. Maja Dodik triumphed in the long match against Hope Moulin from James Madison with a final score of 6-2, 6-7, 10-8. Moulin, with her partner Oliviera, fell to Nagato and Chang 7-6 in doubles, bringing the Mountaineer duo to a 2-1 record for the invitational while Alexis and Dodik came up short against James Madison’s Matko and Glen 6-3 on the final day of competition.
The Mountaineers will play another three-day tournament this weekend in Charleston, W.Va. as they co-host Thunder in the Mountains alongside Marshall University at the Schoembaum Tennis Courts.
