Marcus Leary, Contributing Writer
VCU defeated the University of Richmond Spiders 4-1, losing just one singles match to their cross-town rival. This win advances the Rams 9-8 overall and 3-0 in the Atlantic 10.
VCU head coach Rifanty Kahfiani said she would be “lying” if this matchup did not mean anything, but it is also the same as every other game.
“It’s right across the road and they’re a good team. It has a little bit more something to it,” Kahfiani said. “We just keep telling our players to focus on what we can control. Focusing on practice and fighting from beginning to end.”
VCU second-year Sara Alba and first-year Viktoria Lackova finished their match first, dominating Richmond first-year Beatriz Guerra and fourth-year Elizabeth Novak 6-1.
VCU second-years Andrea Magallanes and Sofia Jane Thorne beat Richmond third-years Lainey O’Neil and Lucy Webber 6-4. This win gave VCU the edge on doubles, earning the Rams their first point of the afternoon.
The Black and Gold extended their lead when third-year Isa Andrade beat Novak in two sets. Winning 6-1 in the first and 6-0 in the second.
While Andrade took care of business on court two, the Spiders did the same on court four. Richmond second-year Abby Lee topped Lakova in both sets winning 6 to 3 in the first and 6 to 1 in the second.
The Rams stormed ahead 3-1 with a win from third-year Mariam Ibrahim. The win on court three gave VCU three opportunities to win. With matches on court one, court five and court six.
The matches on court one and six went into the third and final set. On court one VCU’s Jane Thorne lost her first set 7-5 and one the second 6-2.
Despite the tough loss, Jane Thorne’s teammates still had her back.
“I saw [Jane Thorne] struggling a bit, so I just tried to support her after my match,” Andrade said. “It was a really tough match for her, so I just tried to be looking out for her.”
On court six, VCU’s Alba did just the opposite, winning her first set 6-1 and losing her second 7-6.
Magallanes took down O’Neil in both sets, winning her first set 7-6 and capitalized off of mistakes from O’Neil in the second set, winning 6-2 and securing the VCU win.
VCU will play its next match at the University of Delaware on Friday, April 3 at 11 a.m.