NORFOLK, Va. – Yulia Starodubsteva and Oleksandra Andrieieva of the Old Dominion women’s tennis took down the No. 22 nationally ranked doubles tandem to punch their ticket to the ITA Atlantic Region Doubles Championship in Lynchburg, Va.
“I am really proud of our doubles,” said Dominic Manilla. “All three teams we entered synced really well. Oleksandra and Yulia’s performance, making it to the championship match, was lights out for a freshman and a sophomore. Holly and Brooke were just a tie breaker away from the championship match. It was a great run by so many of our players."
Starodubsteva and Andrieieva won their first three matches before drawing the region’s No. 1 seed/No. 22 nationally ranked tandem of Eva Alexandrova/Millie Stretton from Maryland. No. 5 seeded Starodubsteva/Andrieieva took down Alexandrova/Stretton 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the regional title match. In the championship, Starodubsteva/Andrieieva fell short to UVA’s Meghan Kelley/Sofia Munera 6-4, 6-3.
ODU’s Brooke Pilkington/Holly Hutchinson advanced to the semifinals of the doubles tournament before ultimately narrowly falling to the eventual champions from UVA, Kelley/Munera 6-3, 4-6, 10-6.
Starodubsteva, Hutchinson, Nataliia Vlasova and Natalya Malenko all advanced to the Round of 32 in singles play, while Starodubsteva and Vlasova would win another match to punch their tickets to the Round of 16. Hutchinson won her first three matches, advancing to the Quarterfinals before bowing out in a in a tight three setter to UVA’s Chloe Gullickson (6-0, 6-7(6), 7-5).
Please CLICK HERE to view all results from the 2018 ITA Atlantic Regional Tournament.
The Monarchs will return to action on Nov. 2-4, when they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the Kitty Harrison Invitational.