#7 Cardinals Fly by Wilkes Women's Tennis
MIDDLEBURY, CT – The Wilkes University women's tennis team battled on Sunday but were overmatched by #7 Wesleyan University 9-0 in a match that was scheduled with the mindset of better preparing the Colonels for the NCAA Tournament in May.
The defeat puts Wilkes at 5-3 on the season while Wesleyan gets back in the win column at 5-1.
The Cardinals began doubles by making quick work of #2 Dagney Markle (New Oxford, PA/New Oxford) and Alexa Cieri (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) 0-8 before dispatching #3 Francesca Varela-Seri (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) and Laura Zielinski (Mt. Wolf, PA/Northeastern) by an identical score. The #1 doubles pairing of Jordan Vasarkovy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) and Dasha Yakhnis (Verona, NJ/Verona) played well in their #1 match before falling 1-8.
Wesleyan clinched the win by starting singles with a pair of 0-6, 0-6 wins against #6 Rachel Thomas (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) and #1 Vasarkovy, the latter playing a three-time All-American and NCAA finalist.
After #4 Zielinski dropped the first set 0-6, she took a game in the second (1-6) before #5 Erin Volutza (Sinking Spring, PA/Lancaster Catholic) fell in her match by the same score.
The last two singles players to finish for the Colonels grinded out a couple points as #2 Varela-Seri and #3 Yakhnis dropped a pair of 2-6, 0-6 matches to close out the day for the navy and gold.
Wilkes returns to the court in its Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom opener when it travels to FDU-Florham on Saturday, March 30th for a noon match.
