CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Washington and Lee University junior Taylor Garcia and Sweet Briar College sophomore tandem Ruth de Souza and Allison Wandling closed out the 2021 tennis season by competing in the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships.

Garcia, the ODAC Player of the Year, ended her campaign in the Round of 32 of the singles tournament to Risa Fukushige of Skidmore College. Garcia won the first set by a 6-2 margin, before Fukushige forced a third set with a 6-2 win in the second set. In the third, Garcia fell behind, 3-1, but fought back to tie the set at three games all. Fukushige won the next two games to take a 5-3 lead, but Garcia battled back again to win the next two games, and she fought off multiple match points in the 10th game of the set.
 
Garcia then went up 6-5, but Fukushige forced the match into a tiebreak and claimed the match with a 7-4 edge in the tiebreaker.
 
Garcia finishes her junior season with an overall singles record of 11-3. This completes the 2020-21 season for the W&L women's tennis team.

Wandling and de Souza, who earned All-ODAC First Team laurels at #1 doubles, dropped a two-set match to Nicole Snezhko and Jannah El Nemr of St. Thomas (Minn.) in the opening round of the doubles draw. The Vixen duo led 4-3 in the opening set, before moving roughly six miles to an indoor tennis facility at the Baylor School.

A late charge in the opening set saw the Tommies' pair escape the first set with a 7-5 victory, before earning a 6-3 win in the second set to advance to day two and the quarterfinals.

Wandling and de Souza close the 2021 season 21-2 overall (9-0 in ODAC play) while making the first appearance at the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Doubles Championship by a Sweet Briar doubles squad since Traci Allen and Hilary Larson qualified in 1990. The Sweet Briar pair finish the season third and fourth all-time at Sweet Briar in single-season doubles victories with de Souza at No. 3 with 22 and Wandling No. 4 with 21.