Doubleheader victories secured the Mountaineers an 11-1 record and their best 12-match start since the 1986 season this weekend.
WVU entered Saturday with the highest ITA ranking in program history at No. 47 and it left home matches against Navy and Mount St. Mary’s with the second best non-conference record in the Big 12, losing just once this season to VCU.
The successful Saturday opened with a 10 a.m. match against Navy. After earning the doubles point in two quick matches, WVU set the tone for a 5-2 victory over the Mids.
With just one loss on court one from graduate student Love-Star Alexis, West Virginia secured the win at 4-1 with two matches left. Freshman Maya Bordereau fell in a tight 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) finish to Navy’s second-seeded senior, Samantha Johns, before graduate student Ting-Pei Chang earned a fifth team victory 6-2, 6-4 on court five.
In the following match against Mount St. Mary’s, WVU got off to an even hotter start, leading 6-0 before allowing their only loss of the match on singles court one.
The clashing Mountaineers played every match to the end on Saturday, as WVU won the doubles point but still finished all three matches. On courts, one, two, and three respectively, West Virginia won 6-1, 6-1, and 6-0 in doubles.
In singles, WVU got different players involved but still cruised to a 4-0 lead, so the teams did adjust two of the remaining singles matches to end when a player won one set to eight games. Those players, juniors Tatiana Lipatova and Catherine Wassick, won 8-0 and 8-1 on courts five and six respectively.
The final match to conclude was a three-set thriller between Alexis and Mount St. Mary’s Sofia Kostirko. Alexis won the first set convincingly, 6-1, but fell 7-6 (7) in the second set and 1-0 (1) in the final, allowing Mount St. Mary’s only team point of the match.
As previously mentioned, though, West Virginia had the luxury of switching around the roster for the day’s second match. Senior Momoko Nagato played at court two for the first time since the first week of the season and won 6-0, 6-0.
Similarly, sophomore Maja Dodik jumped up to court three and won 6-0, 6-0 while Chang won 6-1, 6-1 on court four. Bordereau rested in singles for the first time this year.
Lipatova and Wassick each remain undefeated in her few appearances this season, as Lipatova is now 4-0 with one unfinished match and Wassick is 2-0 with one unfinished match.
As the Mountaineers enter conference play, it is easy to forget that their success has come primarily without the help of their best player, junior Camilla Bossi. Bossi has played just four matches this spring as she pursues a professional career.
Without Bossi, coach Miha Lisac has looked to Alexis to lead as the team’s top seed, but Alexis is 2-6 at court one and currently rides a six-match losing streak.
As Big 12 play begins, such consistent shortcomings from the team’s top player could weigh on WVU. For now, though, the Mountaineers have proved fully capable without Bossi and will be a team to beat starting next weekend.
The 50th anniversary West Virginia Mountaineers face Big 12 competition for the first time on Friday against TCU. The match begins at 5 p.m. at Summit Tennis Academy.
Photo from WVU Women’s Tennis
