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BLACKSBURG – Junior Elena Cerezo-Codina and freshman Natalie Novotna of the Virginia Tech women’s tennis team qualified for the main doubles draw on Tuesday, at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit, in Charleston, South Carolina.

The doubles tandem of Cerezo-Codina and Novotna cruised past USA’s Liza Fieldsend and Joelle Kissell by a score of 6-3, 6-3 to qualify for the main doubles draw of 16 teams. The duo will compete on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The time of the match will be announced later this evening.

“We were very aggressive from the start,” Cerezo-Codina said. “We were confident in ourselves, and we were consistent. We did a really good job at the volley, and we took advantage of opportunities.”

“It was a good match,” Novotna stated. “We never played together before, but we trusted each other. We are good friends, and we can learn from each other. It was a good match. When one of us was down, the other one supported us.”

In singles action, Novotna fell to No. 592 Lauren Embree in straight sets by a score of 7-5, 6-4. Novotna held a steady lead in both sets early on, but Embree battled her way back to claim the victory in the first round of the main singles draw.

“It was a really tough match,” Novotna noted. “It’s disappointing that I lost because I had so many chances. My opponent played really well. She was consistent, and she didn’t make a lot of mistakes. She earned the win.”

Of note, Virginia Tech will travel to Wilmington, North Carolina, to compete at the UNCW Fall Invitational from Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, at the UNCW Courts. The three-day event is round-robin style, and includes competition from Campbell, Coast Carolina, UNC Charlotte, UNC Greensboro and host UNC Wilmington. Matches are set to begin at 9 a.m. each day, with the exception of an 8:30 a.m. start time on Saturday.

Live scores can be found HERE.

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