Box Score BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The 29th-ranked Washington and Lee women's tennis team returned to action on Saturday at the Lehigh Invitational after three weeks of no matches. The Generals played three rounds which included doubles against Lehigh and singles against Lafayette and Rider.
ROUND 1 vs. LEHIGH:
The Generals opened the day with doubles play against the host Lehigh University. Four doubles teams were in action and the matches were split, 2-2, between the Generals and Mountain Hawks. The two W&L teams that picked up wins were senior
Margaret Carlton with sophomore
Grace Lorenz and seniors
Kaitlyn Chalker and
Izzy Koziol.
W&L and Lehigh played one set of doubles play to six games. Carlton and Lorenz picked up their win by a 6-4 score, while Chalker and Koziol needed an extra game to close out Hamsa Javagal and Bella Peters, 7-5.
ROUND 2 vs. LAFAYETTE:
The Generals continued the day with singles play against the Lafayette Leopards, where 10 matches took place, eight of which were claimed by W&L players. Out of the eight W&L wins, six came in straight sets, the easiest of which was picked up by sophomore
Jordan Kach, 6-0, 6-0, against Stella Dodd.
Chalker and Koziol turned in matching 6-3, 6-1 wins, while Carlton added a 6-4, 6-1 victory. Lorenz also earned a win against the Leopards as she defeated Hanna Ganchi, 6-2, 6-4.
The other two Blue and White victories came in three sets from sophomore
Isabella Custard and senior
Gabi Moss. Custard won the first set over Layla Drotar, 7-5, before Drotar rebounded with a 6-4 win in the second set. Custard recovered in a third-set tiebreak with a 10-4 win.
Moss also split her first two sets against Olivia Boeckman, with a 6-3 win in the first and a 7-5 loss in the second. The two fought hard in the third-set breaker, but Moss prevailed, 11-9.
ROUND 3 vs. RIDER
W&L concluded Day 1 with singles play against Rider University, which featured nine matches. Just like against Lafayette, the Generals lost only two matches against the Broncs and had four straight-set victories. Carlton, Chalker and Lorenz all picked up their third overall wins of the day in Round 3. Carlton got a 6-2, 6-4 win over Avery Oppenheim, Chalker won in three sets over Meadow LaDuke, 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-0), and Lorenz mirrored Carlton's result of a 6-2, 6-4 win.
In Chalker's match, LaDuke opened up a 5-0 lead in the second set after winning the first set, 6-2. Chalker refused to give up, however, as she rattled off seven straight wins to force the third-set break, before shutting LaDuke out, 10-0, in the third to claim the win.
Sophomores
Riho Iijima,
Annie Jennings and
Lauren Long, and first-year
Haley Stoltz, rounded out the W&L winners against Rider. Jennings (6-3, 6-4), Long (6-2, 6-0) and Stoltz (6-2, 7-6 (7-5)) picked up straight-set wins, while Iijima (4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6)) needed three sets to down Samantha Killin.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Carlton, Lorenz and Chalker led the Generals on Saturday, as they all combined to go 3-0 across the three rounds. Carlton and Lorenz also never lost a set, while Chalker surrendered just one. Koziol also had a strong day with a 2-1 record.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will be back on the courts on Sunday for Day 2 of the Lehigh Invitational. W&L will face the same three schools on Sunday as it did Saturday, with singles play against Lehigh at 10:00 a.m., and doubles against both Lafayette and Rider shortly thereafter.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
