RICHMOND, Va. / WASHINGTON – After beginning the 2020 spring slate with home victories against Mount St. Mary's and Carnegie Mellon, the Duquesne women's tennis teams hit the road for the first time this past weekend, suffering its first loss of the season to  VCU on Friday, before earning its first win over George Washington since 2016 on Saturday.

VCU 6, Duquesne 1 

The Dukes faced VCU, one of the top teams in the conference in its first road dual match of the season at the Thalimer Tennis Center.

Doubles play started with the same lineup Duquesne has used for the first two matches of the season. Laurel Shymansky and Daniella Latoni saw action at #3 Doubles and although they played well they lost 6-2. Pessy and Novak were at #2 Doubles again and while fighting to come back from being down 5-2, they eventually lost the set 6-4. Mitta and Lee were still playing a very close set when the match was clinched. 

With VCU being up 1-0 in the match, the Dukes knew they needed to put it all out there to win. Shymansky was first off the court today playing #3 singles for the first time this season. She unfortunately, after playing a close first set, lost 6-4, 6-1. Next up was Meredith Lee at #4 singles. VCU's Yano would pick up the win, 6-2, 6-1. 

Duquesne was not done fighting yet. All of the singles left on the courts were  very close matches. However, Novak playing #2 singles for the first time this season lost in a close match 6-2, 6-4. A couple of minutes later, senior Aishwarya Kona came off the court with a stellar victory winning at #5 singles 6-4 ,6-3.

Margot Pessy, playing at the top singles spot, showed some great tennis today but ended up falling to VCU's top player in Diaz-Delgado, 7-5, 7-6.

Last to come off the court was Daniella Latoni, playing #6 singles. Latoni ended up winning the first set, but VCU's Onita battled back to win the match 3-6, 6-2, 10-8. 

ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH HUNTER CALLAHAN: "It's never easy playing the top team in your conference at their home courts. But today I think we competed extremely hard and I truly feel we showed what kind of level we can play at. I am excited to see where we can go this season if we keep playing at this level."  

DOUBLES:

1. Tutunaru/Davidescu (VCU) vs. Meredith Lee/Priyanka Mitta (DUQ) 5-3 DNF

2. Yano/Ifidzhen (VCU) def. Margot Pessy/Natasha Novak (DUQ) 6-4

3. Diaz-Delgado/Witmus (VCU) def. Laurel Shymansky/Daniela Latoni (DUQ) 6-2

Order of Finish – 3, 2

SINGLES: 

1. Diaz-Delgado (VCU) def. Margot Pessy (DUQ) 7-5, 7-6(5)

2. Tutunaru (VCU) def. Natasha Novak (DUQ) 6-2, 6-4

3. Davidescu (VCU) def. Laurel Shymansky (DUQ) 6-4, 6-1

4. Yano (VCU) def. Meredith Lee (DUQ) 6-2, 6-1

5. Kona (DUQ) def. Melissa Ifidzhen (VCU) 6-4, 6-3

6. Onita (VCU) def. Daniela Latoni (DUQ) 3-6, 6-2, 6-5

Order of Finish – 3, 4, 2, 5, 1, 6

Duquesne 5, GW 2

Duquesne made the trip to the nation's capital to battle the Colonials at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center on Saturday. The Dukes, who fell to GW 4-3 last season at Alpha Fitness and Tennis Center, looked to avenge the loss.

Doubles play began at 1:00 p.m. with the same doubles lineup used in the three previous matches.

First off the court was Mitta/Lee at the top spot winning, 6-4. The #2 doubles team of Pessy/Novak won next, and clinching the doubles point for Duquesne with 7-5 victory. Shymansky/Latoni battled back from down 5-3 to take a 6-5 lead before the match was called. With Duquesne winning the doubles point for the 3rd time in four matches this season, George Washington had to fight from behind in singles play.

The Dukes started singles play with five of the six matches trailing after the first three games of the match. Despite this, Duquesne did not panic. Latoni was first off the court, securing a convincing 6-0, 6-3 win at #6 singles. Kona could not come up with a win at #5 singles, falling 6-1, 6-2.

Sophomore Margot Pessy, playing #1 singles again, came from behind down 1-5 in the second match to win 6-3, 7-5.

With Duquesne only needing one more point to clinch the match, senior Laurel Shymansky battled from being down 0-6, 1-3 to win her match 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 saving two match points along the way.

Lee playing #4 singles fell 6-4, 6-4. In the final match of the weekend, freshman Natasha Novak came back from a set down to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 at the #2 singles spot. 

DOUBLES:
1. Priyanka Mitta / Meredith Lee def. Marinkovikj / Bayraktaroglu 6-4
2. Margot Pessy / Natasha Novak def. Vesikallio / Mo 7-5
3. Laurel Shymansky / Daniella Lantoni vs. Kunkel / Bodewes 6-5, unf.
 
SINGLES: 
1. Margot Pessy def. Marinkovikj 6-3, 7-5
2. Natasha Novak def. Bayraktaroglu 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3
3. Laurel Shymansky def. Vesikallio 0-6, 7-5, 6-4
4. Kunkel def. Meredith Lee 6-4, 6-4
5. Bodewes def. Aishwara Kona 6-1, 6-2
6. Daniella Latoni def. Mo 6-0, 6-3

UP NEXT: The Dukes will head to Youngstown State in its lone dual match of the week on Friday at 6:00 p.m.