By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
When top-seeded William & Mary rallied to defeat No. 4 Elon in the CAA women's tennis semifinals Saturday afternoon, the heavy lifting might have appeared to be over.
 
After all, No. 2 Delaware and No. 3 Charleston had been upset in the quarterfinals. All that stood between the Tribe and its second conference title in a row was No. 6 UNCW —which W&M had defeated 6-1 three weeks earlier.
 
But Tribe coach Jessica Giuggioli wanted no part of taking anything for granted.
 
"At the end of the day, UNCW made it into the final for a reason," Giuggioli said. "So I told the girls: Don't go out there thinking this is going to be easy."
 
Message received.
 
After winning the doubles point, the Tribe clinched the championship with straight-set singles wins at Nos. 3, 1 and 5. Officially, it was a 4-0 victory, but W&M also had won the first set and was ahead in the second at Nos. 4 and 6.
 
It was the Tribe's 28^th CAA championship and the second in Giuggioli's two seasons as head coach. W&M (15-5) will find out its NCAA opponent when the pairings are released on Monday, May 1.
 
No. 1 Hedda Gurholt, No. 3 Sofiya Kuzina, No. 4 Emma Fernald and No. 6 Emma Pell didn't lose a set all weekend. Pell was particularly dominant, winning each of her five completed set 6-3 or better.
 
William & Mary began its title defense with a decisive 4-0 win over No. 9 North Carolina A&T in Friday's quarterfinals. The Tribe won the doubles point with a pair of 6-0 victories and clinched with straight-set wins by Kuzina, Gurholt and No. 5 Ine Stange.
 
Then came Saturday's semifinal round, when William & Mary found itself in serious danger.
 
Elon started by winning the all-important doubles point. The Phoenix then won at Nos. 5 and 2 singles to take a 3-1 lead. With courts 3, 4 and 6 still active, the Tribe had no room for error.
 
"I'm sure the scoreboard made everyone nervous," Giuggioli said. "But I personally felt very confident in the players we had out there and that we'd be able to finish it out."
 
Right she was — although it wasn't without drama.
 
Pell, a freshman, and Fernald, a sophomore, each won in straight sets to make it 3-3. It came down the court number 3, where Kuzina had fallen into a 2-5 hole in the first set.
 
It turned out to be a mere hiccup. A grad transfer from Long Island University, Kuzina won 11 of the next 13 games for a 7-5, 6-2 win to send her team to the championship.
 
There was no letdown from there.
 
W&M returned four players from last year's lineup, each of whom moved up at least a spot. Gurholt, a sophomore who replaced Mila Saric at No. 1, is 15-3 in dual matches with nine consecutive wins. Senior Elisa Van Meeteren has moved up two positions to No. 2 and went 5-0 in CAA regular-season matches.
 
Fernald, who won the clinching match in last year's championship as a freshman, is 11-5 at No. 4. Stange, the Most Outstanding Performer in last year's CAA tournament, has moved up to No. 5, where she is 8-3.
 
The two newcomers are Kuzina and Pell. Kuzina is 10-3 at No. 3 with four consecutive wins. Pell is 11-5.
 
"The four we returned, all of them were playing higher this year and had success," Giuggioli said. "That says a lot about the hard work they put in and the improvements they've made.
 
"The two new players we have in the lineup have been great contributors. Overall, I thought it was a very good team effort."
 
Last year's championship came at Elon. This year's was won at the newly refurbished Mackesy Tennis Center at the Millie West Courts. The atmosphere was electric.
 
"With our fans, I think it's no coincidence that we're undefeated at home this year," said Giuggioli, whose team is 14-0 at Mackesy. "Our fans show us great support in every match we've had.
 
"Obviously, Sunday was outstanding, the amount of people we had out there and the amount of noise they made for us. They created such a great atmosphere and it felt very special to win yesterday."