For the fifth time in the opening eight matches, the William
and Mary women's tennis team battled in a 4-3 match, but came up on
the short end against No. 54-ranked Marshall on Saturday afternoon at the
McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. Senior Lauren Sabacinski, junior Katie Kargl
and sophomore Anik Cepeda each tallied singles wins for the Tribe. W&M
falls to 4-4 on the year, while Marshall improves to 9-2.
Marshall took the doubles point with close 8-6 wins at the
top two pairs positions. Sabacinski and sophomore Nina Vulovich took the No. 3 post in a
tiebreaker, 8-7 (4), over Kristina Kopricina and Kara Kucin. It marked the
first time the Tribe twosome played together this season as they improved to
2-0 as a team over the last two seasons.
Sabacinski quickly tied the match at one with a dominating
performance at the No. 6 singles position. In her first singles action of the
season, the Green and Gold senior blitzed Kucin, 6-0, in the opening set,
before taking the match with a 6-2 triumph in the second. It marked the 64th singles win of Sabacinski's career.
The Marshall lead jumped to 3-1 with victories at the top two
singles positions, before Cepeda notched her team-leading 14th singles triumph
of the year to pull the Green and Gold closer. The College Station, Texas,
native downed Maria Voscekova, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 4 post to improve to 5-3 in
dual-match competition.
The final two matches of the afternoon went to three sets, but the Thundering Herd claimed the team victory with a triumph at
the No. 3 singles position. Kargl rounded out the Tribe singles effort with her
10th victory of the year. The Green and Gold junior bounced Kristina
Koprcina in three sets at the No. 5 slot to improve her team-best dual-match
mark to 6-2. Kargl took the opening set, 6-2, before her Marshall counterpart
claimed the second in a tiebreaker, 7-6. Kargl pulled out the victory, 12-10, in a back-and-forth third-set super
tiebreaker.
The Tribe returns to action when travels to Cambridge,
Mass., for a pair of matches, Feb. 25-26. The Green and Gold faces Boston University at 3
p.m. on Friday, Feb. 25, before squaring off with Harvard at noon on Saturday,
Feb. 26.
#54 Marshall 4, #67 William and Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 - #33 Michaela Kissell (Marshall) def. Nina Vulovich
(W&M) - 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 - Catherine Kellner (Marshall) def. Hope Johnson
(W&M) - 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 - Dominika Zaprazna (Marshall) def. Jeltje Loomans
(W&M) - 6-4, 5-7, 6-0
No. 4 - Anik Cepeda (W&M) def. Maria Voscekova
(Marshall) - 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - Katie Kargl (W&M) def. Kristina Koprcina
(Marshall) - 6-2, 6-7, 12-10
No. 6 - Lauren Sabacinski (W&M) def. Kara Kucin
(Marshall) - 6-0, 6-2
Finishing Order: 6, 2, 1, 4, 3*, 5
Doubles
No. 1 - #26 Kissell/Zaprazna (Marshall) def. #64
Cepeda/Johnson (W&M) - 8-6
No. 2 - Kellner/Voscekova (Marshall) def. Kargl/Loomans
(W&M) - 8-6
No. 3 - Vulovich/Sabacinski (W&M) def. Kopricina/Kucin
(Marshall) - 8-7 (4)
Finishing Order: 2, 1*, 3
