Hokie Club
BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech women's tennis (10-5, 1-4) defeated Louisville (8-7, 0-5) 5-2, to notch their first conference victory of the season on Friday night.
With the weather just above 50 degrees doubles play began outside with sprinkles of rain throughout. The Hokies came out sluggish falling behind on Court's 1 and 3 but Tamara Barad Itzhaki and Özlem Uslu held true to form gliding ahead 4-0 en route to a 6-4 victory. Katie Andreini and Semra Aksu crawled back from a 4-2 deficit knotting the score at five all but were unable to jump ahead on their service, falling 7-5, giving Louisville the early lead.
As the rain began to pick up the match moved indoors and with it came a whole different Hokies squad in singles. Uslu lead from the front tying the score with an effortless straight-set victory, 6-2, 6-3, pushing the score to one all. Andreini and Dariya Radulova followed suit with straight-set victories of their own slotting Tech just one win away from clinching the match.
All eyes turned to Court 3 where Barad Itzhaki had built a comfortable lead in the second set, finishing her match without moving a muscle after a double fault to capture the win for the Hokies. Charlotte Cartledge remained resilient after losing a frustrating second set that saw her with a two game lead but flipped the script in the third set to close it out, 6-1, 5-7, 7-5.
The Hokies head into Sunday's matchup with No. 24 Notre Dame on a two match winning streak.
UP NEXT
The Hokies welcome No. 24 Notre Dame on Sunday, March 19, at 10:30 a.m.
Pledge Per Match
The Hokie Club and Virginia Tech Tennis are challenging Hokie Nation to make a Pledge Per Match during the 2023 season.