Christina Harris, already the most decorated Lynchburg tennis player of all time, reached a historic milestone Friday by securing the 100th singles win of her illustrious career.
The five-time first-team all-ODAC winner and 2019 ODAC Player of the Year won in three sets as the Hornets beat the Marlins 8-1.
Harris took the first set, 6-1. However, her opponent at the first-singles flight rallied to win the second. The match overall was already decided in favor of the Hornets as Harris' teammates cheered her on from the sidelines. The graduate student from Falls Church, Va. dug deep and stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the final set. In between games, she sat down on the bench with her coach, Chris Johnson, and exchanged a few laughs while also strategizing how to win the final three games. After the match, Johnson said, "to see her hit [100] is no surprise. She's accomplished so many things, and it's really special."
Harris broke serve in the sixth game of the third to secure her historic victory.
"It felt really good," Harris said after the match. "It was really fun, and it's something I've been working towards all year. When I came in as a freshman, I didn't even know it was possible to get to 100 wins. I'm just really excited and happy I was able to accomplish it."
Harris won her 16th match of the season at the first-singles flight and became only the fourth ODAC women's tennis player to reach the centennial mark in singles wins.
On her way to 100 singles victories, Harris set the program record for single-season singles wins with 22 in 2016-17 as a freshman and won ODAC Freshman of the Year honors. She tied her own record the next season, then won 20 singles matches in 2018-19.
Adding to the excitement of the day, the Hornets also took care of business and moved to 15-1 on the season. Harris teamed up with Lauren Pascadlo for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles. Harris now owns 73 career-doubles wins.
At the second flight, Elizabeth Teefey and Grace Teefey swept their opponents for their 17th doubles win of the year. Alissa Anderson and Alexa Hardesty wrapped up the doubles sweep with an 8-0 win.
The Hornets grabbed five points in singles play to secure the victory. Elizabeth Teefey won her 19th match of the season in singles action. The junior is one win away from moving into a tie for the second-most singles Ws in a season. Anderson grabbed a win at No. 4, and Hardesty won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5. Grace Teefey wrapped up the day with a 6-1, 6-4 win at the sixth flight.
It was a full team victory on Wednesday, and the team's efforts were not missed on Harris. She said, "My teammates are the greatest, and they always support me. I've been here for a while so I've had lots of teammates over the years. It's nice that we've consistently had a great culture with the team."
The icing on the cake is the ITA Atlantic South Region rankings came out Friday, and the Hornets are ranked 20th. Harris is also the 25th-ranked singles player.
Harris and the Hornets (15-1, 7-1 ODAC) visit Randolph-Macon on Sunday, Apr. 23 at 2 p.m for their next match.
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