Tribe Well Represented on Final Day of East Regional

W&M will have a doubles team in the regional championship and a pair of players in the semifinals of the singles draw.

10/22/07 7:00PM

Norfolk, Va. - The William and Mary women’s tennis team will be well represented on the final day of the ITA East Regional Championship on Tuesday, Oct. 23. Senior Megan Moulton-Levy and junior Katarina Zoricic will look to capture their second straight regional doubles crown, while Moulton-Levy and sophomore Ragini Acharya will comprise half the semifinal field in singles. W&M will look to make it six straight seasons with an East Region crown, having captured either the singles or doubles title in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Moulton-Levy and Zoricic, playing in only their second tournament of the season together, tallied a pair of wins on Monday to earn a spot in the finals. The Tribe duo notched an 8-5 win over the No. 8 seeded Yale team of Lindsay Clark and Lauren Ritz in the quarterfinals, before disposing of Virginia’s Lindsey Pereira and Maggie Yahner, who were seeded No. 4, in the semifinals, 8-4. Moulton-Levy and Zoricic improved to 6-0 on the season.

The quarterfinal victory was also a milestone for Moulton-Levy as she tallied her 100th career doubles win at the College. She becomes just the fifth W&M women’s tennis player with 100 career doubles wins. The Monroe, Mich., native is only six doubles wins shy of equaling the Tribe school record and currently has 101 career doubles wins.

Moulton-Levy and Zoricic, who are ranked No. 1 nationally in doubles, will meet the No. 3 seeded Marshall pair of Kellie Schmitt and Karolina Soor in the finals. The Marshall duo is currently ranked No. 59 nationally.

Moulton-Levy, who is seeded No. 1 in the singles draw and ranked No. 7 nationally, continued to roll through the singles bracket as well, tallying a pair of straight-set victories to earn a slot in the semifinals. The Tribe All-American defeated No. 24-seeded Bianca Aboubakare of Brown, 6-1, 6-1, in the round of 16, before downing No. 6-seeded and No. 98-ranked Kate Kosminskaya of Penn, 6-0, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. The wins pushed Moulton-Levy’s season mark to 4-0. She is only three singles wins shy of the 100-mark for her Tribe career.

Moulton-Levy will find a familiar foe in Schmitt in the semifinals. On top of playing in the doubles championship against one another, Moulton-Levy defeated Schmitt in straight sets during the 2007 dual-match season.

Acharya gave the Tribe another semifinal representative with a pair of victories over ranked opponents on Monday. The Pulaski, Va., native defeated No. 124-ranked Yulia Rivelis of Penn, 6-3, 6-0, in the round of 16. Acharya, who is ranked No. 90 nationally and seeded No. 4 in the tournament, ran her winning streak to nine matches with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 108-ranked Lana Krasnopolsky of Boston College. The victories pushed Acharya’s season mark to 13-4. She will meet the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Tatsiana Uvarova of VCU in the semifinals. It will mark the second time this season the two have met after Acharya defeated Uvarova, who is ranked No. 26 nationally, at the season-opening William and Mary Invitational.

Zoricic advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles draw before falling to Schmitt. The Tribe All-American defeated No. 15-seeded Julia Koulbitskaya of Penn, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in the round of 16 for her seventh victory of the season. Zoricic was seeded No. 5 in the singles draw and ranked No. 46 nationally.

The ITA East Regional Championship will continue with the doubles championship and singles semifinals and championship on Tuesday, Oct. 23. Old Dominion University is hosting the event at the Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis Center in Norfolk, Va.

W&M Results from the ITA East Regional
Main Singles Draw Round of 16
#1 Megan Moulton-Levy (W&M) [7] def. #24 Bianca Aboubakare (Brown) – 6-1, 6-1
#5 Katarina Zoricic (W&M) [46] def. #15 Julia Koulbitskaya (Penn) – 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
#3 Kellie Schmitt (Marshall) [48] def. #13 Klaudyna Kasztelaniec (W&M) – 6-4, 6-2
#4 Ragini Acharya (W&M) [90] def. #14 Yulia Rivelis (Penn) [124] – 6-3, 6-0
#2 Tatsiana Uvarova (VCU) [26] def. Magdalena Bresson (W&M) – 6-3, 6-1

Main Singles Draw Quarterfinals
#1 Megan Moutlon-Levy (W&M) [7] def. #6 Kate Kosiminskaya (Penn) [98] – 6-0, 6-3
#3 Kellie Schmitt (Marshall) [48] def. #5 Katarina Zoricic (W&M) [46] – 6-1, 6-2
#4 Ragini Acharya (W&M) [90] def. #8 Lana Krasnopolsky (BC) [108] – 6-2, 6-4

Main Doubles Draw Quarterfinals
#1 Moulton-Levy/Zoricic (W&M) [1] def. #8 Clark/Ritz (Yale) – 8-5
#3 Schmitt/Soor (Marshall) [59] def. #15 Acharya/Bresson (W&M) – 8-0

Main Doubles Draw Semifinals
#1 Moulton-Levy/Zoricic (W&M) [1] def. #4 Pereira/Yahner (Virginia) – 8-4