WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's tennis team suffered a 4-0 setback to the College of Charleston in the Colonial Athletic Association Semifinals on Saturday afternoon at the Millie West Tennis Facility. The No. 2-seeded Cougars claimed a close doubles point, before securing a trio of singles wins to outdistance the No. 3-seeded Tribe.
The teams split matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions to start things. After Charleston claimed a win at the second spot, W&M answered as the sophomore duo of
Leeza Nemchinov and
Julia Casselbury rolled to an 8-2 win over Samantha Maddox and Jamie Harrell at No. 3. It marked the first win of the season for the Green and Gold pairing. The balance of the doubles point came down to the top spot. Freshman
Mélanie Roy and senior
Sydney Smith battled to get back on serve at 7-6, before Charleston's Jenny Falonce and Katherine Schofield picked up a break to close out the match and clinch the doubles point.
Charleston's lead increased to 2-0 with a victory at No. 3 as Maddox downed freshman
Nabila Farah, 6-4, 6-1. CofC's Kelly Kambourelis won a match-up of First Team All-CAA players at the No. 1 position, knocking off senior
Maria Belaya, 6-4, 6-2, to push the Cougars' advantage to 3-0.
The Tribe fought for singles victories at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions, but Charleston closed out the match with a victory at No. 3. The Cougars' Mara Arygriou defeated Roy, 6-1, 6-3, to secure CofC's place in the CAA title match. At No. 2, Nemchinov split sets with Charleston's Brooke McAmis, winning the first, 6-2, and dropping the second, 6-3, before the match was abandoned. Casselbury dropped a close 6-4 first set to Falcone at No. 6, but led 4-0 in the second when the match was called with the team result decided.
The College of Charleston advances to the CAA Championship match on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. against the top seed UNCW at the Millie West Tennis Facility. The Seahawks garnered a spot in the title tilt with a 4-0 win over James Madison in the other league semifinal on Saturday. Live results from the CAA Championship match will be available at TribeAthletics.com.
#2 College of Charleston 4, #3 William and Mary 0
Singles
No. 1 – Kelly Kambourelis (CofC) def.
Maria Belaya (W&M) – 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 – Mara Arygriou (CofC) def.
Mélanie Roy (W&M) – 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 – Samantha Maddox (CofC) def.
Nabila Farah (W&M) – 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 – Katherine Schofield (CofC) vs.
Sydney Smith (W&M) – DNF, 6-2, 4-2
Finishing Order: 4, 1, 3*
Doubles
No. 1 – Falcone/Schofield (CofC) def. Roy/Smith (W&M) – 8-6
No. 2 – Kambourelis/Arygriou (CofC) def. Farah/Johnson (W&M) – 8-3
No. 3 – Nemchinov/Casselbury (W&M) def. Maddox/Harrell (CofC) – 8-2
Finishing Order; 2, 3, 1*
