BLACKSBURG, Va. – Head Coach
Paul Kostin talked about his concern with the
speed of the courts at Virginia Tech.
On Saturday afternoon, Kostin's Virginia Commonwealth University
women's tennis team settled those nerves pretty quickly as the
29th-ranked Black & Gold rolled to a 5-2 decision over its
in-state rival in Blacksburg.
"I'm proud of our girls," Kostin said. "Indoor can be tricky
because you run into so many different courts and Virginia Tech is
one of them. The courts play very fast, but our girls did a great
job adjusting and picking up the win."
After sophomore Alex Bara
(Oradea, Romania) and senior Olena
Leonchuk (Kiev, Ukraine) won their doubles match,
veterans Laura Burns
(Hertford, England) and Kateryna
Yergina (Kiev, Ukraine) locked up the doubles point
with an 8-6 win over Virginia Tech's Yasmin Hamza and Holly
Johnson.
Burns and Yergina kept the momentum going in singles, rolling to
straight set victories at #6 and #3 singles respectively.
After the Hokies finally got on the board with a win at #1
singles, Alex Bara locked up the win for the Black & Gold with
a 6-4, 7-5 win over Shannon Betts at #4.
Freshman Josefin
Hjertquist (Spanga, Sweden) added a straight set tough
6-3, 2-6, 6-4 at #2 singles to wrap up the scoring for the
Rams.
The Rams return home on Sunday afternoon for a 1 p.m. showdown
with the University of Pennsylania at the Thalhimer Tennis
Center.
#29 VCU 5, #61 Virginia Tech 2
Doubles:
1.Blakley/Lauten (VT) def. Ana
Bara/Hjertquist, 8-6
2. Burns/Yergina def. Hamza/Holly Johnson (VT), 8-6
3. Alex Bara/Leonchuk def. Betts/Rauscher (VT), 8-4
Order of finish: 3,1,2
Singles:
1. Martha Blakley (VT) def. Ana Bara, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
2. Hjertquist def. Christin Newman (VT), 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
3. Yergina def. Yasmin Hamza (VT), 6-4, 6-1
4. Alex Bara def. Shannon Betts (VT), 6-4, 7-5
5. Courtney Rauscher (VT) def. Leonchuk, 3-6, 6-4, 2-1 ret.
6. Burns def. Emily Lauten (VT), 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 6,3,1,4,5,2
