NORFOLK, Va. – No. 35 Old Dominion women’s tennis swept No. 74 Maryland on Saturday afternoon by a 4-0 score.
“Thank you for the support today, Monarch Nation. I’m proud of the performance today from our squad," ODU Head Coach Dominic Manilla said. "Improving our doubles has been a focus of ours the past several weeks and it surely showed today. We were aggressive and showcased our talent at the right moments. I was most pleased with our poise going into the singles- we didn’t let up and we won the race to four. It’s important for us to enjoy this win and then build on it. We have a tough weekend coming up."
ODU No. 3 doubles duo Marina Markina and Kira Matushkina began the morning with a 6-0 sweep over Maryland’s Oliwia Orlinska and Tamari Gagoshidze. No. 2 duos Ulyana Romanova and Victoria Matasova secured ODU’s point with a dominant 6-1 win over Danielle Hack and Diya Challa. No. 1 Sophia Johnson’s and Lidiia Rasskouskaia’s match against Kallista Liu and Ema Kovacevic was suspended (5-2).
No. 1 Johnson met with Liu once again in the singles matches and added to ODU’s lead by defeating Liu 6-0, 6-3. No. 2 Matushkina followed in suit with a win against Kovacevic (6-3, 6-3) and No. 3 Rasskouskaia secured the Monarch’s win by downing Hack (7-5, 6-2). No. 4 Romanova’s, No. 5 Matasova’s, and No. 6 Markina’s matches were suspended against their respective opponents Orlinska (4-6, 3-2), Gagoshidze (2-6, 5-4), and Challa (6-3, 5-3).
ODU opens conference play next Saturday against App State and on Sunday against App State.