East Carolina University
William & Mary
Pirates Drop Season Opener at William & Mary
January 18, 2014 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 18, 2014
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - William & Mary sent East Carolina to a 7-0 defeat in its first dual match of the season Saturday afternoon at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center.
The 40th-ranked Tribe jumped on the Pirates with the start of doubles play, as Leeza Nemchinov and Maria Belaya defeated freshman Michelle Castro and sophomore Nicole LaDuca, 6-1, at the No. 1 spot in the lineup. Castro and LaDuca fell to 1-1 overall as a team after winning their lone match together during the fall season.
ECU responded to even the best-of-three format at one all in the No. 3 doubles match, where senior Melis Tanik and freshman Emily Groeneveld took down Julia Casselbury and Sydney Smith, 6-3. The match was Tanik's and Groeneveld's first as a tandem.
The doubles point came down to court two, where freshman Maria Storozheva and junior Dana Gray found themselves in a battle with Nabila Farah and Melanie Roy. The match was tied at five apiece until William & Mary (1-2) pulled ahead by one game, but Storozheva and Gray forced the match into a tiebreaker when they re-tied the contest, 6-6. Farah and Roy went on to win the decisive final game to clinch the doubles point for the Tribe.
Singles action began with the 89th-ranked Nemchinov outlasting Castro, 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 2 position in the lineup, before Farah dispatched Groeneveld, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot and the 65th-ranked Belaya fought past Tanik, 6-2, 6-4, on court one to clinch the match and give the Tribe a 4-0 lead.
Casselbury downed Gray at the No. 5 spot, 6-3, 6-2, but that would be William & Mary's last straight-set win on the day.
LaDuca, who faced Roy at the No. 4 position in the lineup, muscled her way to a 7-5 win in the first set to take control of her match in the early going. Roy responded with a 6-0 second-set victory to force the match into a third-set, 10-point tiebreaker, and LaDuca could not regain the momentum and fell, 10-5.
Freshman Elizabeth Zurawel faced off against Smith on court six and dropped the first set, 6-3, before countering with a 6-1 triumph in the second frame to force a third-set, 10-point tiebreaker of her own. Zurawel and Smith went back and forth, exchanging points until Smith ultimately claimed the match with a 10-8 victory.
The setback was Zurawel's first in her last four matches, dating back to the fall season.
East Carolina returns to action Friday, Jan. 24 for a matchup with NC State. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m., at the J.W. Isenhour Indoor Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
