SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – UVa-Wise women's tennis picked up another Mountain East Conference road victory Sunday afternoon, defeating Shepherd University 7-2 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The Cavaliers improved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in MEC play with the victory, while the Rams dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-3 in league matches. Winning two out of the three doubles matches and five out of six singles, the Cavs battled out two tiebreak sets.
 
In doubles play, the duo of junior Daria Tyshchenko (Kirovograd, Ukraine) and senior Bailey Christoforatos (Fredericksburg, Va.) improved to 5-2 on the season with an 8-4 win at the top spot over Alisha Adkins and Zoie O'Neal of Shepherd. At No. 2 doubles, the Rams' Molly Lovern and Zoe Nicewander handed the freshmen tandem of Aya Melhem (Rockvale, Tenn.) and Taylor Carter (Church Hill, Tenn.) an 8-6 loss. However, UVa-Wise was able to take the lead heading into singles play when junior Marti Gay (Denton, Texas) and sophomore Montana Hill (Riner, Va.) gutted out a 9-8 (3) no. 3 doubles win against Shepherd's Anna Bock and Nicolette Bruley. It was the first doubles win of the season for Hill.
 
Tyshchenko had the most dominant singles win for the Cavs at the top position, defeating the Rams' Adkins 6-1, 6-1. Melhem followed suit at the second spot when she earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over Lovern of Shepherd. Carter improved her singles record to 7-0 with a 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 4 singles against Shepherd's Nicewander.
 
UVa-Wise also got singles wins by Christoforatos and Gay. At third singles, Christoforatos took down the Rams' O'Neal by a score of 6-3, 6-1 as Gay topped Bock of Shepherd, 6-0, 7-6 (2), at No. 5 singles. The Rams lone singles win of the day came at the sixth spot where Olivia Scott defeated junior Serena Burgess (Dumfries, Va.) 6-3, 6-2.
 
The Cavs return to Wise for a midweek match Wednesday against Bluefield College (Va.), first serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. from the Jim & Betty Humphreys Tennis Complex.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier women's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
UVa-Wise 7, Shepherd University 2
 
Singles
1. Daria Tyshchenko (WISE) def. Alisha Adkins (SU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Aya Melhem (WISE) def. Molly Lovern (SU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Bailey Christoforatos (WISE) def. Zoie O'Neal (SU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Taylor Carter (WISE) def. Zoe Nicewander (SU) 6-0, 6-3
5. Marti Gay (WISE) def. Anna Bock (SU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-2)
6. Olivia Scott (SU) def. Serena Burgess (WISE) 6-3, 6-2
 
Doubles
1. Daria Tyshchenko/Bailey Christoforatos (WISE) def. Alisha Adkins/Zoie O'Neal (SU) 8-4
2. Molly Lovern/Zoe Nicewander (SU) def. Aya Melhem/Taylor Carter (WISE) 8-6
3. Marti Gay/Montana Hill (WISE) def. Anna Bock/Nicolette Bruley (SU) 9-8 (7-3)