The Fordham women’s tennis team captured its first ever Atlantic 10 title this spring, as the Rams knocked off VCU 4-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The title is the program’s first since it won the Patriot League title in 1990, and snapped VCU’s streak of four straight A-10 championships.
Fordham, the two seed, entered the match against top-seeded VCU on a six-match winning streak and continued that momentum in the final. The Rams would drop the second doubles flight, but Valeriya Deminova & Avery Aude won at first doubles, 6-4, and the third doubles pairing of Carlota Casasampere Escoda & Rachelle Yang sealed the doubles point for their team as they won 7-6(3).
Casasampere Escoda put Fordham up 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win at fifth singles, before VCU cut the lead in half with a win at sixth singles.
Aude would increase the Fordham lead and bring it within one point of winning with a 6-2, 6-4, victory at fourth singles. The title-clinching victory came from Eleni Fasoula, who won 6-3, 6-3 at third singles as her teammates rushed the court to celebrate their first Atlantic 10 title.
The Rams moved on to the NCAA Championships where it fell to Princeton.
FULL RESULTS – FORDHAM 4, VCU 1
SINGLES
1. Valeriya Deminova (FOR) vs. Victoria Smirnova (VCU) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0, DNF
2. Yelizaveta Karlova (VCU) vs. Lindsay Hung (FOR) 7-6(3), 1-2, DNF
3. Eleni Fasoula (FOR) def. Victoria Matasova (VCU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Avery Aude (FOR) def. Gabriela Davidescu (VCU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Carlota Casasampere Escoda (FOR) def. Anja Drasovic (VCU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Emma Valletta (VCU) def. Lorraine Bergmann (FOR) 6-2, 6-4
DOUBLES
1. Valeriya Deminova/Avery Aude (FOR) def. Victoria Smirnova/Victoria Matasova (VCU) 6-4
2. Yelizaveta Karlova/Emma Valletta (VCU) def. Lindsay Hung/Eleni Fasoula (FOR) 6-3
3. Carlota Casasampere Escoda/Rachelle Yang (FOR) def. Anja Draskovic/Gabriela Davidescu (VCU) 7-6(3)
