Orlando, Fla. – The Fordham women's tennis team saw its Atlantic 10 title defense come to an end tonight as the Rams fell to the University of Richmond, 4-2, in the semifinals of the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship at the USTA National Campus.
The match opened with the Rams winning the doubles point, taking two of the three doubles matches. After the Spiders won at first doubles,
Franny Shea and
Julianne Nguyen defeated Richmond's Lainey O'Neil and Elizabeth Novak at third doubles, 6-1, and then
Xiaowei "Rose" Hu and
Eleni Fasoula clinched the point for Fordham with a 6-3 win at second doubles over Polina Shitikova and Lara Bakhaya.
Richmond took a 2-1 lead with wins at third and first singles before Fasoula won at fourth singles, coming back after dropping the first set, 6-2, to win the second and third by identical 6-4 scores.
Xintong "Cindy" Zhou took the first set at fifth singles from Novak, 6-0, but Nova came back to take the second and third sets by identical 6-4 scores to give the Spiders a 3-1 lead.
The match was decided at sixth singles where Shea dropped the first set to Shitikova, 6-1, but forced a third set with a 63 win in the second. The third match had to go to a tiebreaker, which was won by Shitikova, 7-6(3) to clinch the win for Richmond.
Richmond 4, Fordham 2
USTA National Campus | Orlando, Fla.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Singles Competition
1. Andrea Campodonico (UR) def.
Raffaela Alhach (FOR) 7-6(4), 6-3
2.
Xiaowei "Rose" Hu (FOR) vs. Carly Cohen (UR) 5-7, 6-3, 5-4, DNF
3. Leonor Oliveira (UR) def.
Anlin Xie (FOR) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
4.
Eleni Fasoula (FOR) def. Lara Bakhaya (UR) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Elizabeth Novak (UR) def.
Xintong "Cindy" Zhou (FOR) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Polina Shitikova (UR) def.
Franny Shea (FOR) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3)
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 4, 5, 6
Doubles Competition
1. Claire Le Du/Andrea Campodonico (UR) def.
Raffaela Alhach/
Anlin Xie (FOR) 6-0
2.
Xiaowei "Rose" Hu/
Eleni Fasoula (FOR) def. Polina Shitikova/Lara Bakhaya (UR) 6-3
3.
Franny Shea/
Julianne Nguyen (FOR) def. Lainey O'Neil/Elizabeth Novak (UR) 6-1
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
