Roanoke, VA - The Hollins University tennis team played host to Bridgewater College on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon.  Hollins came into the match with the Eagles looking to even their ODAC record at 1-1.

The home team faced an uphill battle after dropping all three doubles matches.  Bridgewater continued their strong start with wins at #2 and #4 singles to take a 5-0 lead.  With the result of the match already determined, the spectators were drawn to a tight match on court one.  Maria Hawkins broke open a close contest with Victoria Coffee (Plano, TX) by winning six straight games to take the first set and build a 3-0 in sent number two.  Coffee battled back and after holding serve in a 20 minute game, inched closer towards getting back in the match.  However, Hawkins prevailed in a tightly played #1 singles matchup.

Hollins continued to fight and finally broke through when Htet Myat San (Mandalay, Myanmar) finished off a 6-3, 6-3 win at #6 singles.  The final match of the day was a thrilling three set comeback by Amelia Verkerk (Chapel Hill, NC).  Verkerk lost the opening set, 4-6, before rallying to win the second, 6-2, and force a third set tie breaker.  With the third and final set tied at 8-8, Verkerk strung a pair of winning points together to take the tie breaker, 10-8.

After falling to the Eagles, 2-7, Hollins finds themselves at 2-2 overall and 0-2 in conference play.  Hollins is scheduled to play Southern Virginia University on Thursday at the Batten Tennis Center.