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Box Score 2 Wilkes Women's Tennis Splits Matches on Thursday
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The Wilkes University women's tennis team won 6-3 over Methodist University in the morning before falling 5-4 against Missouri Valley College later in the day to end their spring break trip 4-2.
Wilkes got off to a tough start in doubles as the #2 pairing of Dagney Markle (New Oxford, PA/New Oxford) and Erin Volutza (Sinking Spring, PA/Lancaster Catholic) were blanked 0-8 but #3 Francesca Varela-Seri (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) and Laura Zielinski (Mt. Wolf, PA/Northeastern) had little trouble in their match as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead before eventually winning the match 8-2.
The #1 doubles match was an important one that the #1 duo of Jordan Vasarkovy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) and Dasha Yakhnis (Verona, NJ/Verona) ended up taking by a score of 8-4 to give the navy and gold a 2-1 lead heading into singles action.
#5 Volutza would open up singles with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 win which was quickly backed up with another 6-1, 6-1 win from #2 Varela-Seri to pull Wilkes within one of clinching at 4-1.
#6 Rachel Thomas (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) fought back from an early first set hole to win a tiebreaker 7-3 and take the set 7-6. She would ride that momentum into the second set as she cruised to a 6-1 victory to clinch the match for the Colonels at 5-1.
#1 Vasarkovy also battled back from a first set loss and found herself in a long second set tiebreaker that she dropped 9-11 to lose the match (3-6, 6-7 (9-11)). #3 Yakhnis followed that up with a tough 2-6, 1-6 defeat.
#4 Zielinski would close the match on a high note as she won in a super-breaker (6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6)) to cap off a 6-3 Wilkes win.
After a break, the Colonels took the courts at Hilton Head Beach & Tennis Resort against the Missouri Valley College Vikings.
The #2 pairing of Markle / Thomas dropped a tough 6-8 match that was quickly followed by a loss from the #1 duo of Vasarkovy and Yakhnis (1-8). Wilkes would head into singles trailing 2-1 thanks to #3 Varela-Seri / Zielinski picking up their second doubles victory of the day, 8-3.
In singles, the Colonels were backed into a corner as #2 Yakhnis fell 4-6, 3-6 before #1 Varela-Seri battled valiantly but came up short in a 5-7, 4-6 match to give the Vikings a 4-1 advantage.
The #3 and #4 singles grabbed huge wins for the navy and gold as #3 Zielinski came back from a 3-6 first set to win 6-4 in the second and 10-6 in the super-breaker (1-0). #4 Volutza would have a back and forth match as well as she won the first set 6-4 but dropped the second set to head to her own super-breaker. Wilkes came out victorious in the super breaker yet again as Volutza won 10-8 (1-0) to give the Colonels a chance at 4-3.
Missouri Valley College would respond though as they clinched the match with a 3-6, 0-6 win in the #5 singles spot. Since the match was decided at 5-3, the coaches agreed to finish the #6 singles as an eight-game pro set that #6 Alexa Cieri (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney) won 8-4.
The Colonels return to action back up north when they head to Muhlenberg College on Saturday, March 16th for a 10:00 a.m. first serve.
