WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William and Mary women's tennis team rolled to a 4-0 win over James Madison on Saturday morning at the
Millie West Tennis Facility and in the process secured a spot in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship on Sunday. W&M used its 1-2 punch to take the doubles point and followed with singles victories from senior
Jeltje Loomans, junior
Leeza Nemchinov and sophomore
Mélanie Roy in bouncing the Dukes. W&M won its third straight match, improving to 15-6 on the year, while JMU closed out the campaign at 14-8.
The freshman pair of
Olivia Thaler and
Maria Groener gave W&M the early cushion in doubles play with an 8-3 win over Kimmy Herrock and Rebecca Harris at the No. 2 post. The Tribe duo improved to 16-8 overall and 8-4 at No. 2. Like they had on Friday, W&M's top pairing of Loomans and Nemchinov clinched the initial point of the match. The Tribe tandem upended JMU's Taylor Pinchoff and Alex Huie, 8-6, for its sixth straight win. The No. 62-ranked team in the country pushed its ledger to 23-4, including 17-3 at the top spot.
W&M raced out to set advantage at all six singles positions, before Loomans won at No. 2 to push the W&M lead to 2-0. The Tribe senior, who is now 7-0 in CAA Tournament singles play, upended Rachel Nelson, 6-3, 6-1, for her third straight victory. Loomans bumped her season ledger to 23-7 overall and 15-5 at No. 2
Nemchinov followed with her sixth straight win at No. 1. The Tribe junior bounced Pinchoff, 6-3, 6-2, improving to 18-1 at No. 1. Nemchinov continued her dominating singles season, upping her record to a remarkable 26-3.
Roy iced the W&M victory with a straight-sets triumph at No. 4. She knocked off Kimmy Herrock, 6-3, 6-2, for her 15th singles win of the season and in the process secured W&M's spot in the title match. Roy won her 12th dual-match of the year and improved to 8-3 at No. 4.
The Green and Gold will play for its 23rd CAA Championship on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. against the No. 2 seed College of Charleston. The Cougars earned a spot in the title contest with a 4-1 win over No. 3 Elon on Saturday. The CAA Championship match will be played at the Millie West Tennis Facility and the winner will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
#1 William and Mary 4, #5 James Madison 0
Singles
No. 4 –
Mélanie Roy (W&M) def. Kimmy Herrock (JMU) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 –
Maria Groener (W&M) vs. Dylan Owens (JMU) – DNF, 7-5, 1-0
Finishing Order: 2, 1, 4*
Doubles
No. 1 – Loomans/Nemchinov (W&M) def. Pinchoff/Huie (JMU) – 8-6
No. 2 – Groener/Thaler (W&M) def. Herrock/Harris (JMU) – 8-3
No. 3 – Casselbury/Roy (W&M) vs. Nelson/Khan (JMU) – DNF, 6-3
Finishing Order: 2, 1*