LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Longwood women's tennis team excelled in doubles this week at the ITA Atlantic Regional Championships, with all three Lancers pairs winning their opening-round matches and
Feline van Eijkelenburg and
Alexandra Magia advancing to the round of 16.
Longwood's van Eijkelenburg and Magia led the way at the Liberty Tennis Complex, defeating James Madison's Corinna Rietmann and Anna Kantor 8-5 before advancing past VCU's fourth-seeded Andrea Magallanes and Isabel Andrade by walkover due to injury. The pair's run ended against Virginia Tech's ninth-seeded Mary Sidelnyk and Blair Gill, who earned an 8-1 victory on Sunday.
Farah Asaad and Asta Miettinen also opened with a victory, defeating Norfolk State's Yulia Yurkova and Julia Daroszewska 8-4. Anjali Junarto and Mariam Ibrahim of VCU ended that Longwood duo's run with an 8-0 win.
Asem Shoybek and Hima Fernando rounded out Longwood's strong doubles contingent, defeating Richmond's Abby Lee and Madeline Kroupetski 8-5. Virginia's second-seeded team of Eugenia Zozaya and Shannon Lam then eliminated the Lancers with an 8-2 victory.
In singles, Alexandra Magia and Hima Fernando each recorded a victory in qualifying. Magia defeated George Mason's Rowan Scronce 6-3, 6-1 before falling to Morgan State's Amira Bergaoui 6-3, 6-3 and Richmond's Madeline Kroupetski 6-4, 6-4. Fernando opened with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over Georgetown's Natasha Kavarana before dropping a 6-2, 7-5 decision to the Rams' Junarto.
Shoybek suffered a pair of qualifying-round defeats, falling to George Washington's Solange Skeene 6-4, 7-5 and the Hoyas' Liya Chu 6-3, 7-6 (5).
In the main singles draw, van Eijkelenburg fell to Liberty's Milana Tsulygina 6-3, 5-7, 6-0. She then lost to Skeene 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the consolation draw.
Longwood now gears up for the Big South Women's Individual Tennis Championship at the Rock Hill Tennis Center in South Carolina, starting Friday.
