NORFOLK, Va. – The No. 63 Old Dominion University women’s tennis team finds itself back in the latest ITA Rankings after starting the season with a 6-3 record. The Lady Tennis Monarchs are also the top ranked Conference USA school, as four different C-USA schools are ranked this week. ODU will travel to take on Maryland (Friday, March 6 at 2:00 p.m.), before facing UMBC (Saturday, March 7 at 12:00 p.m.) in College Park, Md.
Rice comes in ranked right behind ODU in the No. 64 spot, while Middle Tennessee follows in the No. 65 slot. Marshall is also ranked No. 70 this week.
Old Dominion possesses wins against Penn State (5-2), Oral Roberts (4-0), Coastal Carolina (5-2), Penn (4-3), Georgia State (6-1) and No. 61 ranked VCU (4-3). The Lady Monarchs only losses came at the hands of No. 41 Arkansas (4-3), No. 50 Virginia Tech (5-2) and Middle Tennessee (5-2). Old Dominion was without its No. 2 player, Nikol Hristova for the match against MT.
Old Dominion has been led by freshman, Borislava Botusharova, who was named the Conference USA Player of the Week for the second time in her young collegiate career today. The Pazardzhik, Bulgaria-native is now 8-1 in singles play this season. Seven of Botusharova’s eight wins have come in straight sets.
On Sunday afternoon, Botusharova earned a 6-1, 6-3 straight-set victory against VCU’s No. 49 nationally ranked Cindy Chala, on her way to helping lead the Lady Tennis Monarchs over No. 61 ranked VCU, 4-3, which was the first time since 2006 that ODU had taken down the Rams.
In double’s action on Friday, Borislava and teammate Nikol Hristova dominated the No. 40 ranked tandem from GSU, Linn Timmermann and Tarani Kamoe, by a score of 6-1. In singles play, Hristova is currently 3-2 so far this season.
Sophomore Marijana Novakovic started the season on a five-match winning-streak and has won eight of her first nine matches for Dom Manilla’s Lady Monarchs. Novakovic has since started another winning-streak, which currently sits at three.
Fellow sophomore Ingrid Vojcinakova has tallied an impressive 7-2 record and is currently on a five-match winning-streak, which dates back to Feb. 7.
Ivana Vukovic clinched ODU’s coveted win against VCU and is currently on a three-match winning streak with a 5-3 overall mark in singles play this season. In doubles when Vukovic teams up with Adriana Rajkovic, the two are 4-1 together.
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY MONARCHS
Old Dominion heads to College Park, Md. for a 2 p.m. ET match against Maryland on Friday (March 6) and a 12 p.m. ET match against UMBC on Saturday (March 7).
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