WILMINGTON, Del. - - The match came down to the final court, but the Wilmington University women's tennis dropped its first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference match since 2023, falling 4-3 to Jefferson on Wednesday afternoon inside the Delcastle Tennis Center.
The last time the Wildcats (3-1, 3-1 CACC) dropped a CACC match was on October 3, 2023, to none other than the Rams (5-0, 5-0 CACC). In that 2023 season, the Wildcats rebounded to defeat the Rams in the second regular season matchup and then again in the CACC Tournament Championship.
Due to the rain in the First State, Wednesday's match was moved indoors at the Delcastle Tennis Center. The Wildcats started strong, winning all three doubles matches to take the point and lead, 1-0.
Siana MacDonald and Ines Oliveira started the doubles victories with a 6-2 win at No. 3. Ming-Fu Chen and Molly Carlberg gave the Wildcats the doubles' point with a 6-2 victory at No. 1. Liza Sylka and Elena Camacho made it a clean sweep in doubles, winning at No. 2, 6-4.
The Rams started singles competition quickly, as reigning CACC Player and Rookie of the Week Anouk Oderkerk won at No. 1 singles, 6-0 and 6-1. The Rams then took a 2-1 match lead with a win at No. 5 singles, 6-1 and 6-0.
Ming-Fu Chen tied the match, 2-2, for the Wildcats, winning at NO. 3 singles, 6-2 and 6-3. But the Rams answered right back with their third singles victory of the afternoon, winning at No. 2, 6-4 and 7-6 (7-5).
Gloria Barcaro kept the Wildcats alive on the No. 6 court, winning 6-2 and 6-2, tying the game, 3-3. The rest of the Wildcats and Rams gathered to watch Liza Sylka and Marta Vazquez battle on court No. 4. The back-and-forth match went Vazquez's way, winning each set in a tiebreak, 7-6 (9-7) and 7-6 (8-6), to win the match for the Rams.
The Wildcats will take a break from team competition this weekend to compete in the ITA East Regional Tournament in Flushing, New York. The singles and doubles bracket style tournament takes place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
