After winning set one, 6-1, and taking a commanding 4-1 lead in set two, it looked as though No. 52 Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Alex Bara was going to put away Boston University women’s tennis senior Cori Lefkowith.
Instead, Lefkowith rallied back to take set two, 7-6, after two tiebreakers, and then proceeded to dominate Bara, 6-1, in set three. Lefkowith’s comeback victory provided BU with what would prove to be the deciding tally in a 4-3 win over the Rams (14-6) on Sunday.
The triumph gave the Terriers their first win over a ranked opponent since knocking off then-No. 63 Dartmouth College in 2007.
In addition to Lefkowith, BU (10-5) got singles victories from freshman Stefanie Nunic (6-1, 6-0 over freshman Ana Bara) and junior Francine Whu, who won her match with sophomore Kateryna Yergina, who had to retire in the first set due to an injury.
Needing to take two-of-three doubles sets to win the contest, BU sent out Whu and Nunic against Ana Bara and junior Laura Burns. The pair handled Bara and Burns, 8-6, and then watched as junior Elizabeth Corrao and freshman Petra Santini ‘-‘- who both lost their respective singles matches ‘-‘- defeated Alex Bara and junior Olena Leonchuck by a matching 8-6 score.
By taking the first two doubles matches, BU clinched a 4-3 victory, saving Lefkowith and senior Danielle Abraham the trouble of playing in the third doubles match.
The win over ranked VCU was BU’s first in three tries in March. Previously, the Terriers had fallen, 4-3, to then-No. 52 Florida International University on March 10, 6-1 to then-No. 41 Yale University on March 21, and 4-3 to No. 55 Old Dominion University on Saturday.
ODU (18-4) took a 1-0 advantage on BU by taking two-of-three doubles sets, with the only Terrier victory coming from Corrao and Santini, 8-0, over sophomore Joanna Dobrowolska and freshman Irina Dementyeva.
The teams proceeded to split the singles’ portion of the contest, 3-3. Whu earned BU’s most notable victory, knocking off No. 124 senior Charleen Haarhoff (3-6, 6-4, 6-1). Meanwhile, Lefkowith defeated freshman Margarita Spicin (1-6, 6-3, 6-1) and senior Yada Sadovskaya knocked off sophomore Marija Citic (6-3, 6-4).
Nunic and Corrao dropped their matches in straight sets, while Santini forced her match with Dobrowolska to a third set after dropping set one. Unfortunately for the Terriers, Santini’s comeback effort fell short when Dobrowolska took set three, clinching a contest win for ODU.
Notes: The Terriers will return to Florida for the second time this year next weekend, with contests scheduled against the University of South Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University. ‘hellip; The men’s team was scheduled to take on the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester on Sunday, but the match was postponed due to poor weather.
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