Violet Apisah and Vanja Vidanovic put the Division I teams on notice Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, California, when they defeated the BYU pair of Yujia Huang and Jacque Dunyon, 6-1, 6-3.
The Keiser pair was strong out of the gate, taking the first set on serve before earning the break win in just four points. The girls rattled off the next three games and served for the win in set one, taking the deuce point and the momentum into the second set. Huang and Dunyon were able to grab the first game on serve in the second set, but the Seahawks pair battled back, winning five straight games. After BYU took the next two games, once again Apisah and Vidanovic delivered on a deuce point on break, with a return from Apisah being too strong to handle and giving Keiser one of the biggest wins in program history.
The win at the ITA Fall National Championships is the first of its kind for the women's tennis program at Keiser. The Seahawks will now move on to the Round of 16, where they will face the 5-8 seeded doubles team from Oklahoma State in Anastasiya Komar and Ange Oby Kajuru.
Head Coach
Daniel Finn said, "It was a huge win for these two girls and the program they represented today. The girls played great today and executed. Period. I was really proud of the way they played fearlessly and determinedly today. They knew what they had to do and executed it on the biggest stage. Honestly, some of the best doubles I've seen both play. Both Violet and Vanja continued to come up big when the moments mattered the most, but the biggest thing today was their presence at the net and how well they set one another up throughout the match. That was honestly the biggest difference for us, and it got them arguably the biggest win in program history. Theoretical statements have been made that our women's team would belong with the best in NCAA Division 1, and today the girls proved that true. Going into tomorrow, nothing changes. The girls will rest up tonight, go back to work, and try to play their brand of tennis against another strong opponent."
Apisah/Vidanovic
R32: Def. Huang/Dunyon (BYU) (6-1, 6-3)
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