Bennou, Ragland lead VWC tennis women

NORFOLK, Va. --Saida Bennou andLauren Ragland finished 2-0 at the second and fifth flights on Saturday to lead Virginia Wesleyan College's women in the 2011-12 tennis opener played at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the Old Dominion University campus.

Bennou (Washington, D.C./St. John's College), a sophomore, outlasted Southern Virginia University junior Rachel Reid (Woodland Hills, Utah/Spanish Fork) 8-6, and rolled to an 8-1 victory over Chowan University sophomore Brittany Moser (Portsmouth, Va./Churchland).

Ragland (Virginia Beach/Tallwood), a rookie, made her intercollegiate debut an impressive one with a pair of thrillers.  She defeated SVU sophomore Rebekah Ericson (Morgan, Utah/Morgan) 9-8 and tripped Chowan junior Jena'y Nelson (Richmond, Va./Henrico) 9-8.

VWC rookie Betsey Ezell (Danville, Va./George Washington) finished 1-1 in her intercollegiate start, posted an 8-4 win over Southern Virginia junior Rebekah Reid (Woodland Hills, Utah/Spanish Fork).  Her loss was a 8-1 decision to Chowan rookie Inesa Asatryan (Yaroslavl, Russia/Gymnasium #2).

Sophomore Katelynn Duncan (Lynchburg, Va./Holy Cross Regional Catholic) and junior Stephanie Bittner (Westminster, Md./Francis Scott Key) also finished 1-1 for VWC.  Playing at the No. 3 flight Duncan won 8-5 over Chowan's Jennifer Humphrey, but fell 8-2 to SVU's Bethany Johnson (Alpine, Utah/Lone Peak).  Bittner defeated Chowan's Heaven Rushing 8-0, but lost 8-2 to Southern Virginia's Ivy Kuroki (Hershey, Neb./Mid Plains).

Virginia Wesleyan's women finished 4-1 against Chowan and 3-2 against Southern Virginia.

--AMDG--