Eagle tennis takes regional championships by storm

By CHRIS MARKHAM

Adding to the Family Weekend activities last weekend, the University of Mary Washington Eagles hosted the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Championships at the UMW Tennis Center. The Eagles gave an impressive showing, led by a talented sophomore class.

Sophomore Shelby Harris had a great first day, advancing to round 16 after defeating Chelsea Mixson of Washington & Lee 6-3 and 6-4. However, it was as far as she advanced in the tournament, losing to Jody Law of Johns Hopkins afterwards.

Harris paired with senior Lindsay Raulston to make it all the way to the quarterfinal round of the championship doubles draw after taking down the doubles teams from Randolph-Macon and Bridgewater College.

Between those two matches, the Eagles only dropped two of the 18 games played. They went on to lose 8-2 against the doubles team of Vanessa Pavia and Bryn Raschike from Carnegie Mellon, making it farther than any other UMW tennis team since 2008.

Berringer Flood, another talented sophomore, showed a particularly strong performance on the second day of pair-offs, beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday.

After advancing to the quarterfinals of the Blue One Singles by taking down Gloria Bowman of Sweet Briar College 6-3 and 6-0 on Saturday, Flood defeated Brittney Eady of Moravian in a hard fought 9-7 victory. Flood then won against two consecutive John Hopkins’ Blue Jays and took the crown.

The Eagles’ other championship win came in the Blue Doubles One Consolation draw. The duo of Michaela Dowd and Ashley Price started the day with a semifinal match up against Adriana Scotto and Nicole Snitzer of Elizabethtown, where they won by default.

In the championship match, Dowd and Price defeated Megan Phillips and Heather Waring of Juniata College, 8-5 winning the crown.

UMW Sophomore Chrissy Gaul and Senior Anna Richman both picked up individual wins in their respective fields on Sunday, both winning their matches by a count of 8-3.

After a long weekend of padding wins to their resume, the lady Eagles will not compete again until Oct. 11 when they travel to Annapolis to play in the Naval Academy Collegiate Invitational.