NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion University women’s tennis squad is returning to the friendly confines of The Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center this weekend, where they are 5-1 on the year. The Lady Monarchs will take on The College of William and Mary on Friday March 21, at 4:00 p.m. ODU will also battle it out with VCU in Richmond, Va. on Sunday, March 23, at 2:00 p.m.
Optima Health Challenge
Friday’s match between the Lady Monarchs and the Tribe of W&M will be part of the Optima Health Challenge between the two schools. The Optima Health Challenge will be a running score of all the direct competitions between the two schools, with a champion being named at the end of the athletic season and receiving the Optima Health Trophy. In total, the Tribe and Monarchs will compete in 10 different sports during the 2013-14 season.
The scoring system will award 10 points for the overall winner in every ODU-W&M athletic competition. The Tribe and Monarch baseball teams will meet twice in 2014, so each contest will be worth 5 points apiece. A total of 100 points will be awarded this year. The winning school will be the first to tally 55 points. ODU won the opening two years of the Optima Health Challenge, including a narrow 65-55 win last season.
The current score of the 2013-14 Optima Health Challenge is 40-20 in favor of William and Mary.
The Old Dominion Lady Monarchs
The Lady Monarchs are coming off two tough losses on the road against ranked opponents, one being the No. 1 ranked Duke Blue Devils. They are 7-4 overall on the season with three out of the four losses coming from ranked teams.
Old Dominion started off the season handling Howard (4-1) and Norfolk State (7-0) convincingly. The Lady Monarchs then traveled to Philadelphia where they got the better of the University of Pennsylvania, 4-3. Last week, Penn was nationally ranked No. 68. ODU also was too much for the Mountaineers of West Virginia University (6-1). Their most recent win was against former CAA foe, James Madison (5-2).
Nikol Hristova has started every match at the No. 1 position for the Lady Monarchs, posting a record of 6-4. She has won all of her matches except one in straight sets. Freshman Ingrid Vojcinakova has also performed well for the Lady Monarchs with a 7-3 record. The freshman doubles tandem of Vojcinakova and Marijana Novakovic are 5-2 on the year at the No. 2 doubles spot.
William and Mary (3-10)
-Ranked as high as No. 40.
-Notable win against No. 50 Penn State.
-No. 90 Maria Belaya is 5-4 on the season.
-Maria Belaya and Jeltje Loomans are ranked No. 10 in doubles with 4-4 record
The Tribe are coached by Tyler Thomson. He served as an assistant for four years at William and Mary where they captured the CAA title three times in four years. He then continued his career with a stop at Minnesota where he coached for 10 years before returning to William and Mary in 2012. In the 2012-2013 season, Thomson led the Tribe to a 17-6 overall record with wins over No. 19 Ole Miss and No. 30 South Carolina, and captured the Conference title.
Be sure to keep up with all the latest news regarding ODU Women’s Tennis on Facebook; as well as follow @ODUWomensTennis on Twitter!