Box Score

CALIFORNIA (Sept. 13) – In a match featuring two conference championship programs from last year, the California University of Pennsylvania tennis team opened the fall season with a 5-4 victory over Davis & Elkins at Roadman Park on Tuesday afternoon.

With the win, the Vulcans start the campaign with a 1-0 mark under first-year head coach Paul Skrok. Meanwhile, the Senators drop to 0-1 this season after winning the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) for the second time in three years.

Cal U opened play with a 2-1 lead by winning matches at the top two doubles positions. At the first slot, senior Jasi Witherspoon (Macon, Ga./Howard) and junior Katie Olson (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills) outlasted Elise Simon and Laura Fermosel by a 9-8 margin. The duo of seniors Veronika Mikulis (Otterburn Park, Quebec/Heritage Regional) and Alyssa Savill (Holbrook, Australia/Billabong), which won 16 matches as a doubles team last year, claimed an 8-2 win at the second position against Amanda Fewster and Haileigh Carper.  At third doubles, sophomore Maura Gray (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) and newcomer Charlie Gallagher suffered an 8-6 loss to Marlene Ridgway and Kalee Sherrard.

In singles, the Vulcans and Senators split the six matches after Cal U was forced to retire while leading a match due to injury. Witherspoon was holding a commanding 6-0, 5-0 lead at the first position against Fermosel before retiring from play. Mikulis tallied a 6-2, 7-5 victory at second singles over Simon, who is the reigning G-MAC Freshman of the Year, and Savill collected a 6-0, 6-1 win against Fewster at the third slot. Playing her first singles match in over a full calendar year, Olson cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at fourth singles over Ridgway. Gray dropped a 6-2, 6-1 contest to Carper at the fifth position and Gallagher suffered a 7-5, 6-0 loss to Fermosel at the sixth slot.

Cal U is idle for over a week before returning to action on Sept. 24 by hosting Alderson Broaddus, another G-MAC program, at 12 p.m.