BLACKSBURG – The Hokies earned their first win of the season on Saturday, defeating Radford, 6-1, to start the 2024 campaign at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.
A dominant display in doubles and five straight-set wins highlighted Virginia Tech’s third-straight season-opening win of the season.
Tech started doubles action strong with convincing 6-1 wins by Semra Aksu and Erika Cheng, along with Charlotte Cartledge and Özlem Uslu, on Court 2 and Court 3, respectively. The doubles sweep was secured by Katie Andreini and Dariya Radulova, who battled for a 7-6 (2) win on Court 1.
In singles, juniors Aksu and Radulova, along with freshman Laima Frosch led the charge for the Hokies’ back-half of the lineup. Frosch wrapped up her Tech debut with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Rachel Ekanem on Court 6. Radulova quickly followed suit on Court 5 with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph against Brooke Murphy before Aksu clinched Virginia Tech’s fourth point with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Emily Brandow.
Tamara Barad Itzhaki battled on Court 3 after falling behind early to win six-consecutive games in the first set, ultimately claiming a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Lexi Smolder. Katie Andreini, who started the season ranked No. 101, added a 6-2, 6-3 win against Michaela Stephens to bring Tech’s tally to six.
Uslu fell in a third-set 10-point tiebreak to Radford’s Julia Abrams.
UP NEXT
The Hokies return home on Sunday to face ETSU at 1 p.m. inside the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.