FOREST, Va. --- Spring sports have been extraordinarily successful for the ODAC and its member schools in recent seasons, lending to a lot of excitement as the weather turns warmer in the final third of the academic year. That was true of the 2020 campaign as well before competition was halted due to the climate surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, some of the ODAC's best teams and student-athletes did take to their respective arenas and gave us a glimpse of what could have been an outstanding season.

In this installment of a series of season wrap-up features designed at recognizing some of those early achievements in the conference's spring sports, we take a look at the ODAC's women's tennis programs.

In addition to the sections below showcasing a conference-wide view of the sport, wrap-ups and features from our member schools will be included to provide a more in-depth perspective for each program. The school features are posted at the bottom of this release and will be included as they become available.

CONTINUED DOMINANCE

Washington and Lee University tennis -- women's or men's for that matter -- has enjoyed a dominating history since ODAC play began in 1983 for the women's ranks and 1977 on the men's side of the ledger. There have been 37 champions declared in ODAC women's tennis and the Generals have claimed 29 of those titles including each of the past 17 crowns. W&L's men have won 38 of the 43 ODAC championships bestowed, bringing the Generals' totals to 67 tennis titles out of 80 awarded.

The Generals were well on their way to increasing their women's championship haul. W&L was 5-0 in early league action and had yet to be beaten in eight overall matches. They surrendered just two points to ODAC foes in those five matches with both of those tallies coming via default.

STARTING OFF THE SPRING SEASON STRONG

In addition to Washington and Lee's 8-0 start, eight of the ODAC programs started the spring season with .500 or better records in dual matches. Virginia Wesleyan University and Sweet Briar College both won six times with the Marlins lone loss coming to Washington and Lee. VWU was 3-1 in league play and highlighted its non-conference slate with a 5-4 triumph over a tough Southern Virginia University squad. Sweet Briar rushed out to a 6-2 mark with the Vixens losses to W&L and regional foe Rhodes College. SBC posted several solid victories with an ODAC win at Guilford College and a quartet of strong non-conference wins over the University of Mount Union, Webster University, Gordon College, and the College of Wooster.

The University of Lynchburg was 5-2 to start the season with a league win over Ferrum College amongst five wins by 9-0 results. Randolph-Macon College opened 4-1 with two league wins over Emory & Henry College and Shenandoah University. SU and Roanoke College both closed the season at 4-3, while Randolph College posted a 4-4 mark. Three of the Maroons four wins featured margins of one (twice) or two points against LaGrange College (5-4), Lebanon Valley College (6-3), and Eastern Nazarene College (5-4).

EARLY SUCCESS AT ITA REGIONALS

Several ODAC teams took part in the ITA Division III Regional Small College Championships in late September with several individuals and/or doubles tandems posting successful results. Conference players competed at either the Southeast Regional Championships hosted by the University of Mary Washington or the South Regional Championships hosted by Berry College.

Southeast Regional | Washington and Lee's Taylor Garcia and Marta Mikos highlighted the championship singles draw. Mikos won twice to reach of round of 16 before falling in three sets to Lauren James from Carnegie Mellon University. Garcia took it a step further with a trio of victories to setup a quarterfinal showdown with the draw's top seed, Danna Taylor from CMU. Garcia nearly forced a third set before bowing out of the competition to Taylor, who would go on to finish the season ranked #7 in Division III by the ITA. In the championship doubles flight, Randolph's Keyu Jin and Ashley Schmitz earned a win to reach the round of 16 before falling to UMW's Abigail Moghtader and Claire Coleman, who would finish the year as the 15th-ranked doubles tandem in the Atlantic South region.

In the "B" flight singles competition, W&L's Gracie Caplice reached the quarterfinal round after an opening win over fellow ODAC competitor Whitney Kiser from Bridgewater. In the doubles competition, teams from Washington and Lee and Sweet Briar found success. The Generals duo of Ashton Jenne and Valerie Marshall reached the final, while teammates Caplice and Madison Hutchins bowed out in the quarterfinals. The Vixens' pair of Ruth de Souza and Emily Wandling won twice before setting for a semifinal berth.

In the "C" flight singles bracket, Virginia Wesleyan's Alexa Baxter earned a spot in the semifinals before falling to a competitor from Salisbury University. In doubles action, Randolph's Lauren Appel and Sarah Mueller earned three wins and finished as the runners-up. Bridgewater's duo of Emily Daigneault and Ali Keister along with VWU's Lyric Hinton and Anna Rogers also won matches.

The "D" flight is where an ODAC competitor stood atop the podium. SBC first-year Kate Kotany won four matches on the way to the singles title. Her wins included a tough final that featured a tight third set against Clara Ferrehi from Haverford College. BC's Daigneault and Rachel Crawford also won singles matches.

South Regional | Emory & Henry's Payton Holt made the most of the Wasps first appearance at a regional since 2015. Holt won twice in the "B2" Flight and nearly pulled off a semifinal triumph after clawing back from one-set down to force a tiebreak.

In Flight "C," E&H's Logan Graham earned a round of 16 singles win before falling in the quarterfinals. Guilford's Hannah Pardue (with former teammate Claire Rogers) earned a quarterfinal doubles win before bowing out of the field.

RANK 'EM

Washington and Lee featured in the final rankings published by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The Generals finished the year ranked 18th in Division III.

On singles and doubles charts, Marta Mikos led the way as the 30th-rated singles player in the country and seventh in the Atlantic South Region. She went 8-2 in all singles matches highlighted by wins over national #43 Katharine Sherman from Centre College, national #46 Johanna Ranta-Aho from Christopher Newport University, and regional #24 Rachel Summers from Mary Washington. Taylor Garcia slots 14th in the region after going 7-1 in all singles matches.

Garcia and Lily Horsley are the sixth-ranked doubles team in the region. They were 5-1 as a unit including 3-0 in ODAC play. 

ODAC/VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU INSURANCE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE

In addition to being an All-ODAC caliber player, Sweet Briar's Emily Wandling also excels in the classrom. That dual prowess earned her the 2020 ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for women's tennis. Wandling maintains a 3.997 grade point average as a biochemistry and molecular biology double-major. The perennial Academic All-ODAC honoree was named VaSID Academic All-State as well as CoSIDA Academic All-District last season. She is the first Vixen in all sports to earn Academic All-District in the past 15 years. She is also an ITA Scholar-Athlete.

The Mechanicsville, Va., native has presented her research on Extraction of Betulin and Synthesis of Betulin Analogue at the 2019 National American Chemical Society Conference. Wandling is a team captain, vice-president of Sweet Briar's SAAC, and President of SBC's Student Affiliate of the American Chemistry Society. She is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta (academic), Iota Sigma Pi (chemistry), and Chi Alpha Sigma (student-athlete) honor societies. Wandling is a chemistry, biology, and math tutor in Sweet Briar's Academic Resource Center. She volunteers with Brownie Science Day and as a physical therapy volunteer at Rehab Associates in Amherst, Va.

On the court, the 2019 All-ODAC Second Team pick at #1 singles finished her collegiate career one-win short of tying the Sweet Briar record for singles victories (49-30). She is also second in doubles wins (38-39) and combined singles and doubles wins (87-69). Wandling was 9-4 in all singles matches this season and 11-3 in doubles including a 9-3 mark with de Souza.

DEVELOPING STORYLINES AND PLAYERS WE WOULD HAVE FOLLOWED

• Harris Rewrites Lynchburg's Record Books | Harris basically tore up the Lynchburg record books and rewrote them with her own pen over three-plus seasons in the Hill City. She set single-season records for singles victories in each of her first two seasons (22-2 and 22-3) and went on to win 20 times in 2019. Combined with her 7-3 mark this year, Harris set a new career record with 71 victories.
• Jin, Schmitz, or Jin and Schmitz | In true "Jeopardy!" style, the question to this answer is "Who will finish atop the Randolph College women's tennis career singles wins chart?" The shortened campaign left us with a definitive answer as Schmitz closed with 59 wins and Jin with 51 triumphs. Both were enjoying strong seasons with Jin at 9-3 in all matches and Schmitz at 9-4. They're also doubles partners, posting an 8-4 mark this season.
• Kate Kotany's Win Total | First-year Kate Kotany burst on the scene and into Sweet Briar's singles and doubles rotation in the fall. She went 4-0 at the ITA Southeast Regionals on the way to winning the "D" Flight singles title. She went 6-0 in tournament singles matches and 12-2 in all singles contests this season. She was 9-3 in all doubles matches.
• More First-Year Success | Several first-year athletes jumped to the top of their teams' rotations and enjoyed a great start. Marta Mikos took over as the #1 option in Washington and Lee's rotation, going 8-2 in all singles matches including 6-1 in dual matches at the #1 flight. In addition to Kotany, Sweet Briar boasts a new #1 in first-year Ruth de Souza. She went 6-5 overall and 5-2 at the top ladder position. Shenandoah's Jahveesha Combs has the best winning percentage of the bunch. She went 7-1 this year including a perfect 6-0 in #1 singles matches.

THE ODAC HAS SOME REALLY GOOD COACHES

Good coaching is a staple up and down the ODAC's ranks of sponsored sports. From promising newcomers to those with established cultures and even a with hall of fame credentials, there are no shortage of quality mentors for the league's student-athletes.

Washington and Lee's Erin Ness and Randolph-Macon's Charles Gray have earned ODAC Coach of the Year honors from their peers. Gray won the 2017 award, while Ness has earned five honors from 2014-16 and against in 2018 and 2019.

The winning pedrigree of the ODAC's tennis coaches is impressive. Six coaches have won more than 100 dual women's matches with Randolph's Jamie Megginson leading the list at 215 victories in 22 seasons. VWU's Marty Perry has won 198 times, with just nine fewer victories coming from his time as a men's mentor (see that on Wednesday). Both he and Ness have have extensive experience coaching NCAA qualifying teams and individuals. Perry's resumé includes a two-time doubles national championship team and eight All-Americans, while Ness has led W&L to seven ODAC crowns, seven NCAA bids, trips to the second or third round of the bracket, and has coached 12 All-Americans.

Below is a snapshot of the ODAC's active head coaches and their career records thru this season. The totals below represent their records in women's tennis dual matches only.

• Jordon Robinson, BC | 56-71 in 8 overall seasons / 47-45 in 6 seasons at Bridgewater
• Christine Johnston, E&H | 20-24 in 3 seasons
• Rod Baker, FC | 27-63 in 6 seasons
• Kim Kleimeier, GC | 5-19 in 2 seasons
• Chris Johnson, LYN | 100-70 in 9 overall seasons / 36-12 in 3 seasons at Lynchburg
• Jamie Megginson, RAND | 215-214 in 22 overall seasons / 89-75 in 10 seasons at Randolph
• Charles Gray, R-MC | 116-68 in 11 seasons
• Daniel Ragsdale, RC | 82-44 in 7 seasons
• Jason Cole, SU | 4-3 in 1 season
• Dustin Hale, SBC | 34-41 in 5 overall seasons / 16-30 in 3 seasons at Sweet Briar
• Marty Perry, VWU | 198-122 in 16 overall seasons / 33-36 in 5 seasons at Virginia Wesleyan
• Erin Ness, W&L | 178-94 in 14 overall seasons / 145-44 in 8 seasons at Washington and Lee

Click one of the graphics below to be taken to that school's season wrap-up feature. These features will be added as our members complete them.

For more on ODAC women's tennis, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and following @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.