It has been a few years, but the Emory & Henry women's tennis team got the best of Roanoke College this afternoon, demonstrating again that it is a young, but dangerous team in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
The Wasps managed a 6-3 victory that began with a 2-1 edge in the doubles and ended with four solid singles wins.
Perhaps the most exciting among the matches was a come-from-behind win at No. 4 singles by sophomore Kandyce Baker of Nelson County, Va. After losing her first set 3-6 to Roanoke's Caroline Hunter, Baker played with steady patience to win the second set and to go on and win the match in a third set "super tie breaker" 10-7.
Baker, smiling and exhausted after playing one of the longest matches of the day, came off the court in time to watch her teammate, Jessie Jacobs, a first-year student out of Palm Beach, Fla., seal the team victory with an easy 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles over Lucy Webb.
Other singles victories for the Wasps were No. 2 Jill Williams, who won 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-3) over Roanoke's Kelsey Burke, and No. 3 Jessi Williams, who topped Kristin Nagy of Roanoke 7-5, 6-3.
In doubles, the No. 1 team of Savannah Tickle and Jacobs won 8-5 over Roanoke's Nagy and Kelsey White, while the E&H No. 2 team of Jill and Jess Williams, both first-year students, topped Roanoke's Burke and Erin Burnop.
The solid win over Roanoke was the first E&H win over the team in three years and, with a recent win over Randolph-Macon, signified that the E&H team could compete to be among the top teams in the ODAC this season.
"This is exciting," said Head Coach Jim Barker. "To have such success with a group of freshmen and sophomores is rare and, of course, bodes well for seasons to come."