Richmond, Va. - The UMBC women's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision at national power VCU in a match played at Thalhimer Tennis Center.

UMBC's No. 1 doubles tandem of sophomore Mariami Dolashvili (Alushta, Ukraine) and junior Shannon Cleary (Little Bay, NSW, Australia) continued to excel, gutting out a 8-7 victory over VCU's top pair. But the hosts took the other two matches to earn the doubles points.

The Retrievers evened the match at 1-1 as Dolashvili's opponent at No. 2 singles pulled out with an injury, trailing the Retriever sophomore, 2-0, in the first set.

But the Retrievers could not build any momentum in singles and dropped the other five matches. At No. 5 singles, Cleary won the first set over Darya Berezhnaya, but could not pull of the victory, falling 3-6, 6-1, 10-6.

The Retrievers have lost five of their last six matches, and slipped to 3-7 on the season. UMBC will head south for spring break matches at UNC Wilmington (March 15) and The College of Charleston (March 20).

VCU 6, UMBC 1

Doubles

No. 1: Shannon Clearly/Mariami Dolashvili (UMBC) def., Kvitashvili/Barscheuskaya, 8-7

No. 2: Chala/Berezhnaya (VCU) def. Madlena Kurasz /Charlotte Tonjann (UMBC), 8-0

No. 3: Burguiere/Veverkova (VCU) def. Laura Ambrozic/Alice Taylor (UMBC), 8-1

Order of Finish: 2,3*,1

Singles Competition:

No. 1: Cindy Chala (VCU) def. Madlena Kurasz (UMBC), 6-1, 6-0

No. 2: Mariami Dolashvili (UMBC) def.Salome Kvitashvili , 2-0, injury default

No. 3: Olga Barscheuskaya (VCU) def. Isabel Aldunate (UMBC), 6-1, 6-2

No. 4: Ludivine Burguiere (VCU) def. Alice Taylor (UMBC), 6-1, 6-0

No. 5: Darya Berezhnaya def. Shannon Cleary (UMBC), 3-6, 6-1, 10-6

No. 6: Alzbeta Veverkova (VCU) def. Charlotte Tonjann (UMBC), 6-1, 6-1

Order of Finish: 2,1,4,3,5,6