NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion women’s tennis extended its win streak to five after downing Marshall 4-2 in its final match of its homestand on Sunday afternoon.
“Gutsy performance from the team today,” Head Coach Dominic Manilla said. “A big congrats to Mya Byrd stepping up for our team when we absolutely needed her. We need to address some things in doubles but overall I feel we improved tremendously this weekend.”
Marshall came rolling in after No. 1 Emma Vanderheyden and Alina Mokrynska downed ODU’s Sofia Johnson and Lidiia Rasskouskaia (6-2) to open the doubles matches. While No. 3 Monarchs Marina Markina and Kira Matushkina responded by besting Johanna Strom and Nel Van Hout (6-4), the Herd took the match point after Sophia Hurrion and Aisling McGrane defeated Ulyana Romanova and Victoria Matasova (6-3).
In singles play, No. 5 Markina got things going for Old Dominion after cruising past Nour El Ouazzani (6-1, 6-1) to put the Monarchs on the board. No. 4 Matasova followed suit with a win over Hurrion (6-4. 6-3), and teammate No. 6 Mya Byrd recorded her first singles win of the season by besting McGrane (7-5, 6-1) after Matushkina had to be pulled from singles due to illness. For the winning point, No. 1 Sofia Johnson downed Strom (6-3, 7-5) to put ODU at 2-0 in Sun Belt conference play. No. 3 Marshall’s Mokrynska finished her match against Romanova (6-2, 7-5) to give the Herd one last point, though ODU’s No. 2 Rasskouskaia had her match against Vanderheyden suspended (5-7, 3-4).
Old Dominion hits the road next weekend to take on Sun Belt opponents Troy on Saturday, March 15 and Georgia State on Sunday, March 16.