Score: JMU 4, VCU 3
Location: Harrisonburg, Va. 
Records: VCU 6-5 (1-0 Atlantic 10), JMU 5-6
 
The Short Story: VCU Women's Tennis came up just short in a 4-3 loss to JMU on Sunday afternoon.

Opening Serve

• VCU and JMU entered today's match with similar records, as the Rams stood at 6-4 while the Dukes held a 4-6 mark. VCU arrived in strong form, riding a three-match win streak with victories over Howard, George Washington, and Georgetown. JMU entered the contest off a 7-0 sweep of Richmond following losses at Maryland and Penn State.
• The match proved to be as tight as it gets, with two singles contests going the distance and two additional matches decided by straight-set tiebreaks. Ultimately, the result came down to the final court, where VCU was edged in three sets in a match that could have gone either way.

Doubles

• Doubles action began on Court 3, where Sara Alba and Viktoria Lackova fell 6-2 before Mariam Ibrahim and Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando responded with a 6-2 victory on Court 2 to even things up. The point ultimately came down to Court 1, where Sofia Jane Thorne and Andrea Magallanes dropped a 6-3 decision, giving JMU the doubles point. With the win, Ibrahim and Andrade moved to 6-3 on the season, extending their winning streak to three matches.

Singles

• After Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando fell on Court 2, Sofia Jane Thorne rose to the occasion to bring VCU back within one point of JMU. Thorne claimed the opening set 6-2 over JMU's Daria Munteanu, but trailed 0-3 and later 1-4 in the second set. Just as a third set seemed inevitable, Thorne rallied back by winning five consecutive games to win the match 6-4 and secure the straight-set victory.
• Following Andrea Magallanes defeat 7-6(2), 6-2 on Court 5, Sara Alba delivered a comeback victory of her own on Court 6 to once again pull the Rams within one of the Dukes. Alba cruised to a 6-1 first-set victory, but the second proved far more challenging as she found herself in a 0-4 hole. Just as a third set appeared imminent, Alba stormed back to level the score at 6-6 to force a tiebreak. Alba carried that momentum into the tiebreak, overcoming Reitmann's early push to secure a 7-4 breaker victory.
• After dropping the opening set, Viktoria Lackova responded with 6-1 and 6-2 wins in the final two sets, conceding just three games to level the match at 3-3. The emphatic turnaround provided a crucial spark to keep the Rams alive.
• Mariam Ibrahim built early leads in the opening set, holding advantages at 3-2, 4-2, and 4-3 as she closed set one out 6-4. The second set mirrored the intensity of the overall match, with the score knotted at 5-5 and later 6-6, but Ibrahim fell just short in the tiebreak, 7-6(4). In the deciding set, despite a hard-fought effort, Ibrahim was edged 6-3 as JMU secured the match.

 Singles results
1. Sofia Jane Thorne (VCU) def. Daria Munteanu (JMU) 6-2, 6-4
2. Brooklyn Hoffman (JMU) def. Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando (VCU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Viktoria Lackova (VCU) def. Sophie Williams (JMU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
4. Ariel Avidan (JMU) def. Mariam Ibrahim (VCU) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3
5. Anna Kantor (JMU) def. Andrea Magallanes (VCU) 7-6(2), 6-2
6. Sara Alba (VCU) def. Corinna Reitmann (JMU) 6-1, 7-6(4)
 
Doubles results
1. Brooklyn Hoffman / Sophie Williams (JMU) def. Sofia Jane Thorne / Andrea Magallanes (VCU) 6-3
2. Mariam Ibrahim / Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando (VCU) def. Anna Kantor / Reka Matko (JMU) 6-2
3. Ariel Avidan / Daria Munteanu (JMU) def. Sara Alba / Viktoria Lackova (VCU) 6-2
 
Order of Finish: Doubles: 3, 2, 1     Singles: 2, 1, 5, 6, 3, 4
 
Up Next: VCU will be back in action on Friday, March 6, as they travel to Boone, N.C., to take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers.