LEXINGTON, Va. — No. 71 Averett University women's tennis swept Virginia Wesleyan, 4-0, to reach the ODAC championship for the third straight season on Saturday afternoon.
The win marked a special milestone for head coach Bert Poole, as he won his 250th career dual match combined with both the men's and women's tennis programs.
Averett (15-3) grinded through two tough doubles victories for dual point number one. Junior Annika Kellerer and sophomore Ella Boddington won 6-3 versus Virginia Wesleyan's (10-12) Lexi Hackbirth and Zoe Vliegen. Just a court above, senior Brenda Poulakidas and sophomore Sunna Maass were pushed the near distance in their set, but prevailed 7-5 for the clinch.
Maass started the Cougars' run in singles with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Hackbirth, then junior Siddhi Khot got the 6-2, 6-3 victory to put Averett just a win away. It indeed happened, but with double the triumph.
Both senior and junior Dilara Sultanova simultaneously defeated their respective opponents to secure victory for second-seeded Averett, resulting in the 5-0 scoreline.
In a rematch of last year's ODAC championship, the Cougars match up again with 13th-ranked Washington and Lee University in this season's version of the conference finals. Start time for tomorrow's dual is set for 1 p.m.
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