Women's Tennis Drops 4-1 Home Opener To Wake Forest

NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion women's tennis team opened its 2024 home schedule on Saturday morning with a 4-1 loss to Wake Forest at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
 
"A strong performance by Wake today as I felt we made it difficult for them, but they were able to keep their composure and win the race to four," said ODU Head Coach Dominic Manilla. " I felt we had good fight and good tennis attitudes. We had some outstanding individual performances out of Alex and Lidiia in singles.  But we missed some big shots at key moments in the team effort and those errors tipped the scale.  We learned some good things and have good ideas about how to approach tomorrow against a good Penn state team. Go Monarchs!"
 
In doubles, the Demon Deacons took the first win at No. 2 by a 6-1 count. ODU tied the doubles with a comeback win at No. 3 as the duo of Kira Matushkina and Ulyana Romanova were down 4-0 before storming back to win the next six games for a 6-4 victory over Sankavi Downder and Whitley Pate. Wake Forest earned the doubles point with a 6-4 win at No. 1.
 
Singles saw the Monarchs even the match behind a win from Rasskouskaia at No. 5. She won the first three games of the opening set, then the last three for a 6-1 win. In set two, Rasskouskaia opened a 4-2 lead, but Gownder evened the set at 4-4 before Rasskouskaia finished the last two games and won breaking Gownder's serve for a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
 
Wake Forest responded with straight set wins at the No. 1 and 3 spots, along with a clinching three-set win at No. 6.
 
ODU (1-3) returns to the court at 1 p.m. on Sunday to face Penn State on Darryl Cummings Day. A pre-match ceremony remembering the late former ODU head coach will take place approximately 15 minutes before the match begins.
 
 
Tennis Match Results
Wake Forest vs Old Dominion
2/3/2024 at Norfolk, Va.
(Folkes-Stevens)
Wake Forest 4, Old Dominion 1
Singles competition
1. #42 Casie Wooten (WFU) def. Sofia Johnson (ODU-W) 6-3, 6-3
2. Alexandra Viktorovitch (ODU-W) vs. Brooke Killingsworth (WFU) 6-2, 2-6, 2-3, unfinished
3. Marcella Cruz (WFU) def. Kira Matushkina (ODU-W) 6-4, 6-2
4. Allison Isaacs (ODU-W) vs. Nevena Carton (WFU) 3-6, 4-5, unfinished
5. Lidiia Rasskouskaia (ODU-W) def. Sankavi Gownder (WFU) 6-1, 6-4
6. Krystal Blanch (WFU) def. Ulyana Romanova (ODU-W) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Marcella Cruz/Brooke Killingsworth (WFU) def. Sofia Johnson/Lidiia Rasskouskaia (ODU-W) 6-4
2. Krystal Blanch/Casie Wooten (WFU) def. Allison Isaacs/Alexandra Viktorovitch (ODU-W) 6-1
3. Kira Matushkina/Ulyana Romanova (ODU-W) def. Sankavi Gownder/Whitley Pate (WFU) 6-4
Match Notes:
Wake Forest 2-3
Old Dominion 1-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,1,3,6)