On Sunday afternoon, Boston College women’s tennis hit the road to square off against conference rival Louisville, looking to build off its Friday victory against Houston. Despite the absence of top player Yufei Long, BC was able to walk away victorious, beating the Cardinals, 4-2, on Senior Day.
The afternoon started off well for the Eagles (13-7, 3-7 Atlantic Coast), who fought hard to come out victorious in two doubles matches to earn the doubles point. On the first court, Jackie Urbinati and Kylie Wilcox teamed up to face the Cardinals’ (10-10, 2-8) top pairing of Sena Suswam and Dina Chaika. Wilcox and Urbinati were too much for Louisville to handle, however, and the Eagles walked away with a 6-4 victory. Natasha Irani and Loren Haukova fell to Aleksandra Mally and Chloe Hamlin, 6-4, on the third court, but Laura Lopez and Elene Tsokilauri were able to come back and best Raven Neelya and Diana Wong by a 7-6 margin to give BC the doubles point.
BC ran into a little bit more trouble when it came to the singles matches. That said, the Eagles needed just three players to win to secure a victory—they found their saving graces in Lopez, Urbinati, and Reagan Posorske. Natasha Irani was the first to fall, losing in straight sets to Raven Neely, 6-1, 6-2. For a brief moment, the ACC foes were tied. The Eagles were able to build on their early lead, though, when Lopez pulled away from Diana Wong in straight sets of her own. The freshman made quick work of Wong, 6-2, 6-3, to keep BC’s hopes alive.
Fresh off her doubles win alongside Wilcox, Urbinati continued her success and defeated Nikolina Jovic, 6-2, 6-3. Following Urbinati and Lopez’s matches, the Eagles needed just one more win to secure a victory for the afternoon.
Louisville had a burst of luck when Mally edged out Tsokilauri for her second win of the day. After dropping the first set, 1-6, Tsokilauri took the second one, 6-2, but fell in the third, 6-3. The Eagles still held a 3-2 lead, but it was up to Wilcox and Posorske to finalize BC’s win. In the end, Posorske gave the Eagles their winning point on the sixth court. The sophomore came back from 6-1 deficit in the first set to beat Chaika in the final two frames, 6-1, 6-3.
It was a highly successful weekend for BC, which—with five regular season matches remaining—has a solid chance to secure 15 wins on the year, something it hasn’t been able to accomplish since 2003. The Eagles didn’t have Long but still possessed the firepower to beat a slumping Louisville side—the Cardinals have dropped seven straight—and Friday’s win over Houston was even more comfortable. While BC only has three conference wins thus far, it has shown solid progress, as it aims to improve upon last year’s five-win ACC campaign.
Featured Image by Jess Rivilis / Heights Staff
