WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Junior Maria Belaya upset the No. 37-ranked player in the country in leading the William and Mary women's tennis team to a 4-3 win over No. 58 Georgia State on Friday at the Millie West Tennis Facility. Trailing the Panthers, 3-2, Belaya and junior Hope Johnson pulled out three-set wins to propel the No. 46-ranked Green and Gold to victory. W&M upped its ledger to 14-4 overall, while GSU fell to 6-9.

The Tribe found itself in a 3-2 hole with the balance of the match coming down to three-set affairs at the No. 1 and No. 5 positions. Johnson and Chaimaa Roudami split the opening two sets by matching 6-3 scores at No. 5, before the Tribe junior evened the team score at three-all with a 6-3 win in the third. She won for the third time in her last four matches and for the 14th time overall on the year. Johnson recorded the 30th singles win of her W&M career.

With the match on the line, everything fell to the No. 1 spot in the battle between Belaya and Georgia State's Abigail Tere-Apisah, who was ranked as high as No. 22 nationally this season. The Tribe junior took the opening set, 7-5, before the No. 37-ranked player in the country rallied to take the second in a tiebreaker, 7-6. Not to be outdone, Belaya dominated the third set, winning 6-1, for her second victory over a nationally ranked foe this season. She improve to 18-10 overall with her 10th win at the No. 1 singles position.

Despite a Tribe win at the No. 2 doubles position, Georgia State took the opening point of the match with doubles wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 posts. Senior Anik Cepeda and Johnson downed Maryna Kozachenko and Jocelyn Ffriend, 8-2, for their third win in the last four contests at No. 2. The Tribe duo improved to 4-3 in dual match play with its sixth doubles win overall.

Georgia State picked up singles wins at No. 4 and No. 6, while the Tribe countered with straight-set wins at No. 2 and No. 3. Cepeda upped her team-best singles ledger to 23-12 with a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 3 over Whitney Byrd, who was coming off a win over the No. 45-ranked singles player in the country from Clemson. The Tribe senior won her team-leading 15th dual match of the year, while improving to 3-0 at the third spot.

Freshman Leeza Nemchinov won her 20th singles match of the season in straight sets at the No. 2 position. She downed Masa Grgan, 7-6, 6-3, improving to 14-4 in dual match play on the year. The Tribe rookie upped her ledger at the second singles post to an impressive 5-2.

The Tribe hits the road to face No. 39 VCU on Tuesday, April 9, at 4 p.m. Following the tilt with the Rams, the Green and Gold will close out the regular season with a home match against Old Dominion on Saturday, April 13, at 2 p.m. at the Millie West Tennis Facility.

No. 1 – Maria Belaya (W&M) def. #37 Abigail Tere-Apisah (GSU) – 7-5, 6-7, 6-1

No. 2 – Leeza Nemchinov (W&M) def. Masa Grgan (GSU) – 7-6, 6-3

No. 3 – Anik Cepeda (W&M) def. Whitney Byrd (GSU) – 6-3, 6-0

No. 4 – Linn Timmermann (GSU) def. Jeltje Loomans (W&M) – 6-4, 6-4

No. 5 – Hope Johnson (W&M) def. Chaimaa Roudami (GSU) – 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

No. 6 – Jocelyn Ffriend (GSU) def. Sydney Smith (W&M) – 6-2, 6-3

No. 1 - #68 Tere-Apisah/Grgan (GSU) def. #5 Belaya/Loomans (W&M) – 8-5

No. 2 – Cepeda/Johnson (W&M) def. Kozachenko/Ffriend (GSU) – 8-2

No. 3 – Roudami/Timmermann (GSU) def. Nemchinov/Smith (W&M) – 8-5