For immediate release – 4/23/2016 – #490
Hornet Women's Tennis Makes History with win at Randolph

LYNCHBURG, VA – The 2016 Lynchburg College women's tennis team became a part of history Saturday with a 5-4 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victory at Randolph College to tie the school record for wins in a season. Lynchburg was 0-14 in 2015, with a 0-11 mark in the conference, compared to this year's 12-9/6-4 record.

The Hornets captured two of the three doubles matches this afternoon. Erika Hadland and Kelsey Dowling earned an 8-3 win at #2 doubles while Valeria Erostegui and Lilli Altenburg gained an 8-2 victory at #3.

Hadland won her match at #2 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, and Dowling breezed to a 6-1, 6-0 victory at #5. Altenburg dropped just five games in a win at #4.

The 12 wins tie the 1987 team's 12-5 season, but this year's team can make a case for having the best season in school history. Head coach Josef Manilla's squad's 6-4 conference record this year and fourth-place regular-season finish surpasses the 1987 team's 5-4 ODAC mark and sixth-place finish.

"I can't give enough respect to my team for battling every single match as hard as they could," said coach Manilla. "With so many freshmen on the team, we were really unsure how the season would unfold. Many of the ladies developed their games throughout their first year here and it made coaching them easy."

"We didn't win a single match last year and that was tough, but it has made our success this year more special. We are going to practice hard this week in preparation for a difficult first-round match in the ODAC Tournament."

The ODAC Championship Tournament will begin with the quarterfinals on Saturday, April 30, with Lynchburg hosting a home match in the opening round. The complete tournament bracket will be released by the ODAC office later this weekend.