HARRISONBURG, Va.  – The College of Charleston women's tennis team raced to a 3-0 lead behind two singles victories and the doubles point, but James Madison stormed back with four straight singles victories to hand the Cougars their first loss to a Colonial Athletic Association rival in 2019 and move the College to 12-9 on the season.
 
Despite the Dukes picking up a doubles victory on court three, the Cougars took wins on courts one and two to clinch the doubles point. Christi Woodson and Anastasia blanking Amos and Voloh of JMU in a 6-0 win on court one, Clara Errard and Lily LaBiche combining in a 6-1 victory on court two to put Charleston on top 1-0.

Woodson and LaBiche continued their fine singles form to push the Cougars lead to 3-0. LaBiche winning her seventh straight singles match in a 6-3, 6-3, victory over Jona Roka, the freshman moving to an 8-2 record over her last 10 matches.

On court one Woodson won her fifth straight matchup in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. The senior from Melbourne, Fla., moving to 13-6 on the year in the number one singles spot.

From there the Dukes came alive, racking up wins on courts five and six in straight sets to cut the Charleston lead to 3-2, Nyikos and Palaska going to third sets on courts two and three with JMU completing the come-from-behind victory with wins on both.

With the 4-3 loss Charleston moves to 12-9 on the season, continuing the road travels tomorrow with another CAA rival in Elon. First serve is set for 1 p.m. in Elon, N.C., with live stats available at CofCStats.com.

Quote – Head Coach Angelo Anastopoulo
"We played great doubles and two great singles matches to build a 3-0 lead... Then the wheels fell off... We need to be much tougher in these tight situations... JMU did a great job of believing they could come back to win… Tough loss but I'm sure the team will be ready to compete hard against Elon tomorrow."
 
Results
Doubles
Woodson/Palaska (CofC) def. Amos/Voloh (JMU), 6-0
Errard/LaBiche (CofC) def. Afanasyeva/Petersen (JMU), 6-1
Nord/Arcos (JMU) def. Yates/Zschunke (CofC), 6-1
Finish: 3, 1, 2
 
Singles
Woodson (CofC) def. Afanasyeva (JMU), 6-2, 6-2
Amos (JMU) def. Nyikos (CofC), 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
Voloh (JMU) def. Palaska (CofC), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
LaBiche (CofC) def. Roka (JMU), 6-3, 6-3
Petersen (JMU) def. Yates (CofC), 6-3, 6-4
Nord (JMU) def. Medici (CofC), 6-2, 6-4
Finish: 4, 1, 6, 5, 3, 2