Score: Florida Atlantic 5, VCU 2

Location: Richmond, Va. (Thalhimer Tennis Center)

Records: VCU 0-1, Florida Atlantic 1-1

The short story: VCU women's tennis opened the spring dual season with a 5-2 loss to Florida Atlantic at the Thalhimer Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.

OPENING SERVE

• Paola Exposito Diaz Delgado and Noumea Witmus continued their undefeated season as a doubles pair, improving to 4-0 with a 6-3 victory over Jennifer Leib and JaCara Gillis.
• The Owls won a tightly-contested doubles point to take a 1-0 lead after Aliona Bolsova and Jemi Aguilar defeated Anna Rasmussen and Melissa Ifidzhen 7-5 in the No. 1 doubles.
• Marina Alcaide Bakkari cut into the FAU lead with a straight-set win over Naiya Oden, 6-2, 6-2, to make the match score 2-1.
• FAU clinched the win with victories in three of the first four singles matches, including Bolsova, who holds the No. 2 singles ITA ranking in the country, defeating Rasmussen 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1 singles.
• Kanako Yano made her VCU debut with a win over Marisa Ruiz at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

THE RESULTS

Doubles
1- Aliona Bolsova/Jemi Aguilar (FAU) def. Anna Rasmussen/Melissa Ifidzhen (VCU) 7-5
2- Paola Exposito Diaz Delgado/Noumea Witmus (VCU) def. Jennifer Leib/JaCara Gillis (FAU)  6-3
3- Natalia Boltinskaya/Marisa Ruiz (FAU) def. Kanako Yano/Sofia Sualehe (VCU) 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles
1- Aliona Bolsova (FAU) def. Anna Rasmussen (VCU) 6-2, 6-0
2- Natalia Boltinskaya (FAU) def. Paola Exposito Diaz Delgado (VCU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
3- Kristen Thoms (FAU) def. Melissa Ifidzhen (VCU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
4- Kanako Yano (VCU) def. Marisa Ruiz (FAU)  6-4, 4-6, 6-2
5- Marina Alcaide Bakkari (VCU) def. Naiya Oden (FAU) 6-2, 6-2
6- JaCara Gillis (FAU) def. Noumea Witmus (VCU) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 3, 2, 4

UP NEXT

The Rams host the VCU 4-1 Invitational this weekend, with a matches against Drexel on Jan. 19, and Campbell on Jan. 20.