WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's tennis team opened the dual-match campaign in dominating fashion with a doubleheader sweep of Richmond and UMBC on Tuesday at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The Green and Gold won 14 of 16 matches between singles and doubles in cruising to identical 6-1 triumphs over the Spiders and Retrievers.

In doubles actions, the College breezed with convincing wins at both the No. 1 and No. 2 positions to claim the opening point of the match on both sides of the doubleheader. Against the Spiders, the No. 3-ranked team in the country, juniors Maria Belaya and Jeltje Loomans, dominated the Richmond duo of Alex Smyth and Melissa Kandinata, 8-0, at the top doubles post. In the nightcap, Belaya and Loomans ran their record to 11-1 with an 8-3 win over Kim Berghaus and Sauer to clinch the doubles point against UMBC. Senior Anik Cepeda and freshman Leeza Nemchinov went a perfect 2-0 on the day with an 8-2 win over the UR team of Elizabeth Sims and Katya Salas to go along with downing the Retriever duo of Josefin Stange-Jonsson and Kurasz, 8-1, at the No. 2 position. Cepeda and Nemchinov upped their winning streak to three matches improving to 7-4 on the year.

A quintet of Green and Gold singles players went a perfect 2-0 on the day. Belaya, Loomans, Nemchinov, Cepeda and junior Sydney Smith all won singles matches against both Richmond and UMBC on Tuesday.

At the top singles slot, Belaya downed Richmond's Melissa Kandinata, 6-3, 6-4, before making quick work of UMBC's Isabel Aldunate, 6-0, 6-1. The Tribe junior improved to 8-4 on the season, including wins in five of her last six matches.

Loomans and Nemchinov each tallied a singles win at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the doubleheader. Against UR, Loomans posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ana Abadias Morales at the No. 2 slot, while Nemchinov recorded a win at the No. 3 position, 7-6, 6-3, over Emily Gitman. The Tribe players switched spots in the night match as Nemchinov made quick work of UMBC's Heidi Danielsson, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 2, and Loomans steamed Josefin Stange-Jansson, 6-4, 6-0, at the third singles slot. Loomans, who hadn't played singles competitively since the opening fall event due to injury, improved to 3-2 on the year, while Nemchinov pushed her winning streak to three with her eighth win of the season.

Cepeda and Smith each upped their team-leading win totals to nine on the year with victories against Richmond and UMBC. Cepeda tallied victories at the No. 4 slot as she upended UR's Elizabeth Sims, 6-2, 6-2, before clinching the College's victory over UMBC by downing Sauer, 6-1, 6-3. Smith ran her win streak to four matches, including a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alex Smyth at the No. 6 position that clinched the Tribe's win over Richmond. She rounded out the day for the College with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over UMBC's Kurasz at the No. 5 position.

The Tribe will hit the road for the first time in the dual-match slate, traveling to No. 3-ranked Duke on Saturday, Jan. 19. The match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start in Durham with live stats available on GoDuke.com. W&M's next home match at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center will be Tuesday, Jan. 22, when it hosts No. 18-ranked Mississippi at 6 p.m.

William and Mary 6, Richmond 1
Singles
No. 1 - Maria Belaya (W&M) def. Melissa Kandinata (UR) - 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 - Jeltje Loomans (W&M) def. Ana Abadias Morales (UR) - 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 - Leeza Nemchinov (W&M) def. Emily Gitman (UR) - 7-6, 6-3
No. 4 - Anik Cepeda (W&M) def. Elizabeth Sims (UR) - 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 - Katya Salas (UR) def. Hope Johnson (W&M) - 6-4, 3-6, 10-7
No. 6 - Sydney Smith (W&M) def. Alexandra Smyth (UR) - 6-2, 6-3
Finishing Order: 4, 2, 6*, 1, 5, 3

Doubles
No. 1 - Belaya/Loomans (W&M) def. Kandinata/Smyth (UR) - 8-0
No. 2 - Cepeda/Nemchinov (W&M) def. Sims/Salas (UR) - 8-2
No. 3 - Johnson/Smith (W&M) vs. Gitman/Abadias (UR) - 4-3, abandoned
Finishing Order: 1, 2*

William and Mary 6, UMBC 1
Singles
No. 1 - Maria Belaya (W&M) def. Isabel Aldunate (UMBC) - 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 - Leeza Nemchinov (W&M) def. Heidi Danielsson (UMBC) - 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 - Jeltje Loomans (W&M) def. Josefin Stange-Jansson (UMBC) - 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 - Anik Cepeda (W&M) def. Sauer (UMBC) - 6-1, 6-3
No. 5 - Sydney Smith (W&M) def. Kurasz (UMBC) - 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 - Shannon Cleary (UMBC) def. Jackie Lee (W&M) - 6-7, 7-5, 10-7
Finishing Order: 1, 3, 4*, 2, 5, 6

Doubles
No. 1 - Belaya/Loomans (W&M) def. Berghaus/Sauer (UMBC) - 8-3
No. 2 - Cepeda/Nemchinov (W&M) def. Stange-Jonsson/Kurasz (UMBC) - 8-1
No. 3 - Lee/Smith (W&M) vs. Danielsson/Cleary (UMBC) - 4-3, abandoned
Finishing Order: 2, 1*