Williamsburg, Va. - The William and Mary women's tennis team dropped a tight 4-3 match to visiting Columbia on Friday afternoon at the Millie West Tennis Facility. The Green and Gold won the doubles point and garnered singles wins from sophomore Jeltje Loomans and junior Anik Cepeda, but the Lions won four singles tilts, including the final two in three sets, to capture the team victory. W&M fell to 4-13 on the year, while Columbia improved to 8-3.

The Tribe took the doubles points with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. The Green and Gold junior tandem of Anik Cepeda and Marlen Mesgarzadeh won the final three games at the No. 3 doubles post in pulling out an 8-4 win over Columbia's Katarina Kovacevic and Crystal Leung. Cepeda and Mesgarzadeh improved to 4-1 on the year, including a perfect 3-0 in dual-match play.

After the Lions pulled even with a victory at the No. 2 slot, the initial point of the match came down to the battle at the top spot. The Tribe duo of sophomores Jeltje Loomans and Maria Belaya held a break advantage, before Columbia's Bianca Sanon and Tiana Takenaga rallied to tie the match at seven. Not to be outdone, the W&M pair won the final two games, including a break in the 16th, in recording its 11th straight victory, 9-7. Belaya and Loomans, who are ranked No. 39 nationally, improved to 18-5 on the year.

Loomans extended the Tribe lead to 2-0 with a straight-sets win at the No. 2 singles positions. She downed Bianca Sanon, 6-1, 6-4, for her sixth win of the year. After Columbia won at the No. 6 post, Cepeda won for the third time in her last four matches to push the W&M advantage to 3-1. The Tribe junior recorded a straight sets win, 6-4, 6-3, over Crystal Leung at the No. 4 slot. It marked Cepeda's seventh win of the year and her sixth dual-match victory.

The Lions closed to 3-2 with a triumph at the No. 1 position as the balance of the match came down to three-set affairs at the No. 3 and No. 5 slots. After a Columbia win at No. 3 evened things at three, the Lions' Katarina Kovacevic outlasted senior Katie Kargl, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, to clinch the Columbia victory.

The Tribe will wrap up its three-match week with a Saturday, March 24, afternoon affair with Harvard. The match is salted for a 1 p.m. start time at the Millie West Tennis Facility, weather permitting.

Columbia 4, William and Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 - Nicole Bartnik (Columbia) def. #109 Maria Belaya (W&M) - 6-4, 7-6 (2)
No. 2 - Jeltje Loomans (W&M) def. Bianca Sanon (Columbia) - 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 - Iani Alecsiu (Columbia) def. Hope Johnson (W&M) - 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
No. 4 - Anik Cepeda (W&M) def. Crystal Leung (Columbia) - 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 - Katarina Kovacevic (Columbia) def. Katie Kargl (W&M) - 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
No. 6 - Tiana Takenaga (Columbia) def. Sydney Smith (W&M) - 7-5, 6-1
Finishing Order: 2, 6, 4, 1, 3, 5*

Doubles
No. 1 - #39 Belaya/Loomans (W&M) def. Sanon/Takenaga (Columbia) - 9-7
No. 2 - Bartnik/Alecsiu (Columbia) def. Kargl/Johnson (W&M) - 8-5
No. 3 - Cepeda/Mesgarzadeh (W&M) def. Kovacevic/Leung (Columbia) - 8-4
Finishing Order: 3, 2, 1*