Tribe Rally Falls Short at No. 8 Baylor

Senior Megan Moulton-Levy won her 112th career singles match to move into sixth on the W&M career list.

02/23/08 6:15PM

Waco, Texas - The No. 16 William and Mary women’s tennis team nearly pulled off a remarked comeback at No. 8 Baylor on Saturday afternoon, before dropping an excruciatingly tight, 4-3, match. After Baylor jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Tribe rallied with the deciding match coming down to a third-set tiebreaker victory for the Bears at the No. 3 position. The loss dropped the Tribe’s overall record to 8-5, while Baylor improved to 7-1 with the win.

After Baylor swept the doubles and claimed straight-set wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions to stake itself to a 3-0 lead, W&M needed to win the final four remaining matches to take the team victory. Sophomore Lauren Sabacinski tallied the first Tribe triumph with her 20th win of the season at the No. 5 position. The Plantation, Fla., native notched a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jelena Stanivuk to improve to 7-2 on the year at the No. 5 singles slot.

Senior Megan Moulton-Levy pulled W&M within 3-2 with a straight sets victory at the No. 1 singles slot. Moulton-Levy won her fourth straight match and claimed her 10th victory in the last 11 affairs to improve to 19-4 overall. The Tribe All-American claimed the first set, 6-3, over No. 24-ranked Zuzana Zemenova, but fell behind a break, 3-1, in the second. Moulton-Levy, though, reeled off the last five games to claim the match and tally her 10th win over a nationally ranked foe this season. The win was also Moulton-Levy’s 112th career singles win moving her into sixth-place on the Tribe’s career list.

With the pair of Tribe wins, the match came down to three-set matches at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. At the No. 4 slot, sophomore Ragini Acharya recorded a come-from-behind, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, win over Jana Bielikova. The win pushed Acharya’s team-leading singles win total to 22.

The Tribe would not be as fortunate at the No. 3 position as junior Klaudyna Kasztelaniec fell in a third-set tiebreaker. Kasztelaniec raced out of the gates, claiming the first set, 6-3, over No. 22-ranked Taylor Ormond, before the Baylor player rallied to force a third set with a 6-1 win in the second. The third-set proved to be a back-and-forth affair. Kasztelaniec took a break advantage early, 3-1, but Ormond recovered to win four straight games and gain a break advantage of her own, 5-3. The Tribe junior would not be outdone though, rallying to tie the match at 6-all, before falling in the tiebreaker.

W&M will wrap up its three-match road trip to the Lone Star State when it battles No. 33 TCU on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 11 a.m.

#8 Baylor 4, #16 William and Mary 3
Singles
No. 1 - #8 Megan Moulton-Levy (W&M) def. #24 Zuzana Zemenova (Baylor) – 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 - #18 Lenka Broosova (Baylor) def. Kat Zoricic (W&M) – 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 – #22 Taylor Ormond (Baylor) def. Klaudyna Kasztelaniec (W&M) – 3-6, 6-1, 7-6
No. 4 – Ragini Acharya (W&M) def. Jana Bielikova (Baylor) – 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 – Lauren Sabacinski (W&M) def. Jelena Stanivuk (Baylor) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 6 – Karolina Filipiak (Baylor) def. Carmen Pop (W&M) – 6-2, 6-2
Finishing Order: 6, 2, 5, 1, 3*, 4

Doubles
No. 1 - #4 Broosova/Zemenova (Baylor) def. #26 Moulton-Levy/Zoricic (W&M) – 8-4
No. 2 – Ormond/Stanivuk (Baylor) def. Acharya/Sabacinski (W&M) – 8-3
No. 3 – Bielikova/Filipiak (Baylor) def. Kasztelaniec/Zidek (W&M) – 8-2
Finishing Order: 2, 3*, 1