NORFOLK, Va. – ODU women’s tennis fell in a hard-fought match against P4 opponent Penn State on Sunday, with a 4-3 score.
"Congrats to Penn state. That was a classic college tennis battle," Head Coach Dominic Manilla said. "This one stings for sure. There are adjustments we must make but I’m confident in the core of this group and expect a strong response in the areas we need to address. This match didn’t lack positives. Our doubles tandem of Marina and Kira are developing quickly and the top half of our singles line up really did a great job."
The Nittany Lions took two doubles matches, with Olivia Dorner and Maiko Uchijima taking down Monarchs Sofia Johnson and Lidiia Rasskouskaia 6-3. Jordina Cegarra and Patricia Grigoras also defeated Ulyana Romanova and Victoria Matasova (6-4), though ODU duo Marina Markina and Kira Matushkina would best Yvonne Zuffova and Maria Ciubotaru 6-2.
To kick off the singles matches, Rasskouskaia earned ODU’s first point against Grigoras (6-2, 6-4). Penn State’s Jelena Vico would take the next point against Romanova (6-2, 6-2), though Old Dominion’s Matushkina and Johnson would take down their respective opponents Uchijima (6-1, 6-7, 6-2) and Dorner (4-6, 6-4, 6-2) in tiebreaker sets. To close out the singles, Ciubotaru downed Allison Isaacs (7-6, 6-3) to tie the match at 3-3. However, in a tiebreaker set, Zuffova would outlast Markina (7-5, 6-7, 6-2) to give Penn State a 4-3 win.
ODU will continue to hit the road as they head to North Carolina to take on a second P4 opponent, Wake Forest, on Sunday, Jan. 26.