ORLANDO, FL. - In a battle of the Rams, Sunday's Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship final saw the second-seeded Fordham Rams take down reigning Champion and top-seeded VCU, 4-1, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. The win breaks a streak of four straight A-10 championship titles for VCU.
The Fordham Rams captured the match's opening point by taking doubles courts No. 1 and No. 3. After VCU's pair of Yelizaveta Karlova and Emma Valletta picked up a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles, Fordham quickly followed to even the match behind Valeriya Deminova and Avery Aude's victory at the top spot. In the final court, Carlota Casasampere and Rachelle Yang came back to force the tiebreaker. The Fordham pair went out to a quick lead, eventually claiming the 7-6 victory and the match point.
Casasampere put Fordham up 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win at fifth singles before VCU cut the lead in half with a win at the sixth position. Avery Aude put Fordham within one point of winning with a 6-2, 6-4, victory at fourth singles and when Eleni Fasoula capped her 6-3, 6-3 win at the third spot, her teammates rushed the court to celebrate their first Atlantic 10 title.
The Rams will find out their NCAA fate during the NCAA Tournament selection show, which will take place Monday, May 1 at 6 p.m., live on NCAA.com.
MATCH #12
#2 FORDHAM def. #1 VCU, 4-1
SINGLES
1. Valeriya Deminova (FOR) vs. Victoria Smirnova (VCU) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0, DNF
2. Yelizaveta Karlova (VCU) vs. Lindsay Hung (FOR) 7-6(3), 1-2, DNF
3. Eleni Fasoula (FOR) def. Victoria Matasova (VCU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Avery Aude (FOR) def. Gabriela Davidescu (VCU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Carlota Casasampere (FOR) def. Anja Drasovic (VCU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Emma Valletta (VCU) def. Lorraine Bergmann (FOR) 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: 5, 6, 4, 3
DOUBLES
1. Valeriya Deminova/Avery Aude (FOR) def. Victoria Smirnova/Victoria Matasova (VCU) 6-4
2. Yelizaveta Karlova/Emma Valletta (VCU) def. Lindsay Hung/Eleni Fasoula (FOR) 6-3
3. Carlota Casasampere/Rachelle Yang (FOR) def. Anja Draskovic/Gabriela Davidescu (VCU) 7-6(3)
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3