10 matches into the season, WVU Tennis is on a roll, as thet improved to a 9-1 record this weekend.
The 4-3 victory over Toledo on Friday and 4-1 win over William & Mary on Sunday came without junior star Camilla Bossi, who played as WVU’s top seed in her four matches this season. Graduate student and Middle Tennessee State transfer Love-Star Alexis filled in as usual at court one this weekend but fell in both matches.
Also forced to step up during Bossi’s absence is freshman Maya Bordereau, who played her second straight weekend at court two. Bordereau finished her singles match first against Toledo, quickly defeating Gaby Rondon 6-3, 6-1. She was forced to end her match early on Sunday but led 5-3 in the third set.
Senior Ting-Pei Chang played at court five on Friday, falling 6-4, 6-3, and was replaced by junior Tatiana Lipatova against William & Mary. Lipatova trailed her match 3-6, 5-5 before it was cut short on Sunday.
Senior Momoko Nagato, redshirt sophomore Maja Dodik, and junior Michaela Kucharova all went 2-0 in singles matches this weekend, staying put at seeds three, four, and six respectively.
With the singles’ success, though, came doubles question marks. The narrow 4-3 finish against Toledo was only that tight because the Rockets stole the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 wins at courts two and three.
The Mountaineers only lost the doubles point on two other occasions this year, in a 4-3 win over Virginia Tech and the 3-4 match loss to VCU. Virginia Tech and Toledo are the only teams to take the point without the completion of three matches.
WVU bounced back against William & Mary, earning the doubles point 2-1, but the damage to its reputation is already done. The previously undefeated team of Dodik and Bordereau fell 6-3 against Toledo, while the pairing of Alexis and Chang is now 2-4 after losing both matches this weekend.
Friday’s close call was luckily just that thanks to WVU’s reliable singles players, but the Mountaineers will likely look to keep their winning doubles record as long as possible ahead of Big 12 match play.
The 9-1 Mountaineers play their third doubleheader of the season on Saturday against Navy and Mount St. Mary’s. The weekend is the last with non-conference matches and the second-to-last of WVU’s month of home matches.
Photo from WVU Women’s Tennis
