Cullowhee, N.C. – The Western Carolina women's tennis team is in the Sunshine State for a pair of spring break matches, as they take on Quinnipiac and Penn on back-to-back days in Orlando, Fla. The Catamounts face the Bobcats on Thurs., March 12, before taking on the Penn Quakers on Fri., March 13.
WCU (2-8, 0-1 SoCon) enters the week after earning a 4-2 home win over the UNC Asheville Bulldogs and will face the Bobcats and the Quakers for the first time in program history.
Quinnipiac (5-5, MAAC 0-0) is WCU's first opponent of the week and enters spring break after recently recording a 4-0 win over Rhode Island. The Bobcats faced St. Thomas and Marquette in a doubleheader on Tues., March 10, going 2-0 in those matches with a pair of 6-1 wins.
Penn (6-6, Ivy 0-0) enters the week after most recently falling to Maryland 6-1. The Quakers also fell to South Florida 6-1 on March 9 in Tampa before making it to Orlando, where they took on Xavier.
Thursday and Friday's Matchups:
Western Carolina (2-8, 0-1 SoCon) vs Quinnipiac (5-5, 0-0 MAAC)
March 12, 2026, | 1 p.m. | Orlando, Fla.
Western Carolina (2-8, 0-1 SoCon) vs Penn (6-6, 0-0 Ivy)
March 13, 2026, | 7:30 a.m. | Orlando, Fla.
Players to Watch:
Mariya Dobreva led the Catamounts last time out, posting an undefeated record against the UNC Asheville Bulldogs. Dobreva posted a 6-2, 6-4 straight-set victory on the top court and combined with Mia Miranda for a 6-1 doubles victory. Miranda also won in straight sets as the second seed, clinching the match for the Catamounts.
Also of note, Hokualohi Lui and freshman Kelly Coetzee rolled to a 6-0 win in their doubles match on the second court. Lui notched a win by withdrawal on the sixth court while Coetzee had battled back to even her match as the fifth seed when play concluded vs Asheville.
The Bobcats were led by Willow Renton, Anagha Shankar, and Isabella Baker on the singles courts in their 4-0 win over URI. The trio won all of their respective matches on courts one, four, and three in straight sets, with the Bobcats also leading on the remaining three courts when play closed.
Penn is led on the top court by Esha Velaga, who is 4-3 in solo competition as the top seed. Lara Stojanovski leads the team in overall record, going 7-3 in spring competition with her time mostly split across the second and third courts, where she's recorded a 3-1 record at both seeds.
Up Next for The Catamounts:
WCU returns home to host Marshall on Wed., March 18, before hosting the Furman Paladins on March 19, in a rescheduled match. They'll then hit the road for two matches, at Samford (March 22) and Chattanooga (March 26), to close the month.
