NORFOLK, Va. – ODU’s women’s tennis began their 2025 spring season campaign with a dominant 7-0 win over Richmond.
To begin the match, Monarch duo Sofia Johnson and Lidiia Rasskouskaia defeated Spider duo Sofia Barbulescu and Elizabeth Novak by a deciding 6-0 score. Richmond’s Claire Le Du and Lainey O’Neil would then take down Old Dominion’s Victoria Matasova and Ulyana Romanova 6-1. However, Marina Markina and Kira Matushkina came back and bested Lara Bakhaya and Abby Lee, giving the Monarchs the point.
For the singles, Johnson defeated Barbulescu (6-2, 6-3) while Matushkina came out on top against Lee (6-0, 6-4). Rasskouskaia and Romanova dominated their respective opponents Bakhaya and Novak with 6-1, 6-0, and 6-1, 6-0 scores. In a close match, Allison Isaacs fought off O’Neil in a tiebreaker set, where she would eventually come out victorious (6-7, 6-2, 10-1).
“Hats off to Richmond,” Head Coach Dominic Manilla said. “They really pushed us in some key positions. I thought we were nervous today but found ways to dig deep and prevail. This was a strong opener for us. We will be tested at Penn state on Sunday.”
The Monarchs will look to continue their fresh win streak as they travel to Pennsylvania on Sunday to take on P4 opponent Penn State at 11 a.m.