No. 24 TRIBE 5, No. 68 WISCONSIN 2
For the second time in two weeks, the 24th-ranked College of William and Mary (2-2) rebounded from dropping the doubles point to regain form in the singles competition for another come from behind victory.
The Tribe handed no. 68 University of Wisconsin (2-3) their third loss of the season in Sunday afternoon’s 5-2 decision at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center.
“We have experience [and] seniority in the top three,” Head Coach Meredith Geiger-Walton said. “They know what Tribe tennis should be at in terms of the level, and they know what they are capable of. So when it comes down to it, they can carry the weight and rise to the occasion and get the job done.
“Obviously getting the victory always feels good. We shouldn’t have lost the doubles point. We lost to defensive teams, which means that our offense was not as strong as it should have been.”
95th-ranked senior Kat Zoricic, who plays no. 1 singles for the Tribe, regrouped after a shaky doubles game to secure the fourth and deciding point for the College in her 6-2, 6-3 triumph over the Badgers’s Elizabeth Carpenter. Zoricic emerged from the break with a renewed passion and focus that Carpenter could not
match.
“Doubles is something we have all been working on and working through all the frustrations [associated with] playing with new partners,” Zoricic said. “I think all of us are feeling a little more comfortable with our singles, so I don’t think it was ever out of question that we could win all of our singles matches.”
No. 79 junior Ragini Acharya handled Wisconsin’s Emese Kardhorao 6-1, 6-1 in the fastest contest, while
teammate senior Klaudyna Kasztelaniec improved her spring singles record to 3-1, finishing with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
On the fourth court, Tribe junior Carmen Pop fought back from an early 4-1 deficit to surge back for a 6-4, 6-3 win. Pop’s doubles partner, freshman Katie Kargl, captured the final victory for the College in a 7-6, 0-6, 10-8 showing.
Pop and Kargl combined for the Tribe’s only doubles victory, making fast work of their opponents after working an early break to their advantage.
Despite being up 6-4, the College’s no. 2 doubles team of senior Barbara Zidek and Kasztelaniec could not finish off the Badgers duo of Aleksandra Markovic and Jessica Seyferth, losing the set in a 7-3 tiebreaker and allowing Wisconsin to secure the doubles point.
The 37th-ranked team of Acharya and Zoricic struggled to find their groove losing to an unranked Badgers squad, 8-3.
The Tribe returns to action at the University of Maryland Feb. 18.
