MORGANTOWN, WV - Just as the men did earlier in the day, the Rutgers women’s tennis team (9-6, 5-2 BIG EAST) downed West Virginia on Friday. The Scarlet Knights earned a 4-1 victory against the Mountaineers in a shortened match. RU took the only two doubles matches that were completed, while also notching victories in three of the four singles bouts that were completed.

Rutgers surged out to the one-point team lead with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. The No. 2 position saw senior Jennifer Hellier (Annapolis, MD) and freshman Ketevan Shmakova (Dover, NJ) defeat West Virginia’s Melissa Day and Courtney Howell, 8-5. The freshmen tandem of Alina Balasa (East Brunswick, NJ) and Jill Markowitz (Forest Hills, NY) downed Raynie Theis and Catherine Koontz, 9-7. The No. 1 doubles match between RU sophomore Andrea Weckstein (Holmdel, NJ) and senior Carissa Sommerlad (Bradley Beach, NJ) and West Virginia’s Jennifer Watkins and Anna Marie Underwood was not completed after the Scarlet Knights already clinched the doubles point.

RU took three of the top four singles matches, earning the team win. At No. 1 singles, Weckstein beat Howell in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Sommerlad defeated Day, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, at the No. 2 spot. The Mountaineers picked up their lone point in the match at No. 3 singles as Watkins beat Hellier in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Balasa earned the Scarlet Knights’ fourth and final point at No. 4 singles, beating Underwood, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, for her team-high 11th win of the year. The matches at No. 5 and No. 6 singles were not completed.

The Scarlet Knights will be back in action on Saturday, facing Pittsburgh in Morgantown, WV, at 9 a.m.

Rutgers 4, West Virginia 1

Singles
No. 1 Andrea Weckstein (RU) def. Courtney Howell (WVU), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 Carissa Sommerlad (RU) def. Melissa Day (WVU), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
No. 3 Jennifer Watkins (WVU) def. Jennifer Hellier (RU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-2
No. 4 Alina Balasa (RU) def. Anna Marie Underwood (WVU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
No. 5 Ketevan Shmakova (RU) vs. Raynie Theis (WVU), DNF (6-4, 0-6, 2-2)
No. 6 Jill Markowitz (RU) vs. Catherine Koontz (WVU), DNF (6-4, 4-1)

Doubles
No. 1 Weckstein/Sommerlad (RU) vs. Underwood/Watkins (WVU), DNF (7-7)
No. 2 Hellier/Shmakova (RU) def. Day/Howell (WVU), 8-5
No. 3 Balasa/Markowitz (RU) def. Theis/Koontz (WVU), 9-7