Tribe Knocks off No. 24 Arkansas

Junior Katarina Zoricic clinched the W&M win with a three-set victory at the No. 2 singles position.

02/15/08 6:30PM

Williamsburg - The No. 16-ranked William and Mary women’s tennis team knocked off its second top-25 foe of the season with a narrow 4-3 win over No. 24 Arkansas at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on Friday afternoon. After dropping the doubles point, the College won the first four singles matches off the court, including a three-set victory at No. 2 by junior Katarina Zoricic that clinched contest for the Tribe. W&M improved to 6-3 on the year, while Arkansas fell to 4-4, dropping each of its four matches in 4-3 fashion to top-16 teams in the country.

Arkansas took the initial point of the match, claiming the No. 1 and No. 2 pairs’ positions. W&M quickly evened the match as sophomore Ragini Acharya downed Ela Kaluder in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, at the No. 3 singles position. The win bumped Acharya’s season mark to 19-8 overall.

Fellow classmate Lauren Sabacinski gave the Tribe a 2-1 lead with a straight sets win at the No. 5 singles position. Sabacinski improved to 4-1 at the No. 5 slot, downing Delia Damaschin, 6-1, 6-3. The win pushed the Tribe sophomore’s season mark to 17-6. Junior Klaudyna Kasztelaniec brought the Tribe within a point of victory with a win at the No. 4 spot. Kasztelaniec downed Nanar Airapetian, 6-4, 6-2, upping her season ledger to 14-6.

The match came down to a trio of three-set affairs at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 singles positions. Zoricic clinched the W&M victory, downing Anouk Tigu at the No. 2 slot. The Tribe All-American won the opening set, 6-3, before Tigu took the second, 6-4. Zoricic rolled in the third set, 6-0, to tally her 12th win of the season.

In a battle between two of the top players in the country at the No. 1 spot, Arkansas’ Aurelija Miseviciute rallied from a set deficit to defeat W&M’s Megan Moulton-Levy, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. The loss snapped Moulton-Levy’s six-match winning streak. The Tribe All-American entered the contest ranked No. 12 in the country, while Miseviciute is the No. 1-ranked player in the nation.

The Tribe returns to action with its second contest of the week, hosting No. 64 Colorado on Saturday, Feb. 16. The match is slated for a noon start at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. W&M will look to avenge one of its three losses last season, which came to the Buffalos in Boulder, Colo.

#16 William and Mary 4, #24 Arkansas 3
Singles
No. 1 - #1 Aurelija Miseviciute (ARK) def. #12 Megan Moulton-Levy (W&M) – 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 - #83 Katarina Zoricic (W&M) def. Anouk Tigu (ARK) – 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
No. 3 - #55 Ragini Acharya (W&M) def. Ela Kaluder (ARK) – 6-4, 6-1
No. 4 – Klaudyna Kasztelaniec (W&M) def. Nanar Airapetian (ARK) – 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 – Lauren Sabacinski (W&M) def. Delia Damaschin (ARK) – 6-1, 6-3
No. 6 – Audrey Bordeleau (ARK) def. Barbara Zidek (W&M) – 4-6, 6-0, 6-3
Finishing Order: 3, 5, 4, 2*, 6, 1

Doubles
No. 1 – #45 Airapetian/Franco (ARK) def. #46 Moulton-Levy/Zoricic (W&M) – 8-5
No. 2 – #12 Kaluder/Miseviciute (ARK) def. Kasztelaniec/Zidek (W&M) – 8-5
No. 3 – Acharya/Sabacinski (W&M) def. Bordeleau/Tigu (ARK) – 8-4
Finishing Order: 3, 1, 2*