WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's tennis team advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association Semifinals with a 4-2 victory over Drexel at the
Millie West Tennis Facility on Saturday evening. The No. 3 seeded Tribe recorded victories at the top four singles positions to upended the Dragons as freshman
Nabila Farah clinched the Green and Gold victory with a win at No. 4.
After the Dragons pulled to within 3-2 following a W&M a No. 5, Farah secured the Tribe's spot in the next round with her 13th singles win of the year. The Tribe rookie had a peculiar start to her match at No. 4. She jumped out to a 3-2 advantage, before it was discovered that Drexel sent the wrong players to the courts for the No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions. Despite W&M leads at both positions, the matches were restarted from zero with the correct Dragon players at each position.
The restart did little to quell Farah's play as she raced out in taking the first set, 6-1, from Lea Winkler. Leading 5-4 in the second set, Farah broke Winkler, cashing in her second break and match point chance with a beautiful drop shot to clinch the victory. It was her seventh dual-match triumph of the year.
Drexel took the early lead in the match by taking the doubles point. Farah and sophomore
Julia Casselbury staked W&M to the early lead in pair's competition with their second straight win. The Green and Gold tandem bounced Winkler and Fiorella Coria, 8-4, at the No. 3 position. Drexel rallied with a win at No. 2 to even doubles, before the Dragons' top team of Zeynep Mafa and Marcela Rosales won the final three games at No. 1 to clinch the match's initial point.
Sophomore
Leeza Nemchinov quickly evened things for W&M with a straight-sets win at No. 2. The two-time First Team All-CAA player ripped off four of the final five games in the opening set for a 6-2 win over Nicole Pivonka. She won by a matching 6-2 score line in the second to secure her 17th win on the year.
Senior
Maria Belaya put the Tribe on top for the first time with a victory at the top post. She downed Zeynep Mafa, 6-3, 6-2, for her team-leading 19th singles win on the year, including her sixth at No. 1.
Freshman
Mélanie Roy brought W&M to the brink of the team triumph with her win at No. 3. After claiming the first set, 6-1, the Green and Gold rookie won the final two games of the second set to close out Drexel's Marcela Rosales, 7-5, and up the Tribe advantage to 3-1. It was Roy's fourth win in the last five matches as she upped her singles win total to 14.
The Tribe meets No. 2 seed College of Charleston at 2 p.m. in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at the Millie West Tennis Facility, weather permitting. W&M will look to avenge a 4-3 loss to the Cougars from earlier this season. The College of William and Mary is the host of the CAA Tennis Championship for the second straight season. The other league semifinals will pit the top seed UNCW against No. 4 James Madison at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The CAA Championship match is slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 20.
#3 William and Mary 4, #6 Drexel 2
Singles
No. 1 –
Maria Belaya (W&M) def. Zeynep Mafa (Drexel) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 –
Mélanie Roy (W&M) def. Marcela Rosales (Drexel) – 6-1, 7-5
No. 4 –
Nabila Farah (W&M) def. Lea Winkler (Drexel) – 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 – Erin Bowsher (Drexel) def.
Sydney Smith (W&M) – 6-4, 6-1
Finishing Order: 2, 1, 3, 5, 4*
Doubles
No. 1 – Mafa/Rosales (Drexel) def. Belaya/Nemchinov (W&M) – 8-6
No. 2 – Pivonka/Bowsher (Drexel) def. Roy/Smith (W&M) – 8-2
No. 3 – Farah/Casselbury (W&M) def. Winkler/Coria (Drexel) – 8-4
Finishing Order: 3, 2, 1*
