Opponent:
Sweet Briar at Salem | February 25 | 2:15 p.m. | Winston-Salem, N.C. | Bert Lain Tennis Center

SALEM MAKES HOME DEBUT ON SUNDAY
The Salem tennis team makes its home spring debut on Sunday, February 25th, when the Spirits host Sweet Briar at 2:15 p.m. The Vixens are making their fourth all-time appearance at the Bert Lain Tennis Center. Sweet Briar last visited Winston-Salem, N.C., on September 17, 2016, where the Vixens emerged with a 7-2 victory.

SALEM OPENS 2024 SPRING SLATE WITH DECISIVE WIN AT FERRUM
The Salem tennis team claimed its seventh straight win and second all-time shutout against Ferrum when the Spirits posted a 9-0 win at Ferrum on Tuesday afternoon.

Making just its second trip to Ferrum in program history, Salem got off to a great start with an 8-0 win in No. 3 doubles as the tandem of Alyx Diggs and Abrielle Eckenroth downed Emily Walker and Marcella Hatcher. The lead moved to 2-0 for Salem as the No. 1 singles pairing of Mariana Faint and Adley Keim posted an 8-3 win over Ferrum's Hannah Huffman and Gabby Mendoza.

Salem completed the doubles sweep as the second-seeded tandem of Emily Griffis and Alana Bridges fought past Morgan Hundley and Mary Mason to earn the 9-8 (7-3) victory.

Bridges kept the Panthers without a point in the match as she stretched the Salem lead to 4-0 in No. 5 singles by posting a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Walker. Eckenroth followed with the match-winning point at the No. 6 singles spot, downing Hatcher by scores of 6-0, 6-0.

Diggs continued the straight set trend with a pair of 6-0, 6-0 wins over Mason in No. 4 singles as the Spirits owned a 6-0 lead. Faint picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Huffman in No. 2 singles, while Keim added the eighth point for the Spirits with a 6-1, 6-1 triumph against Hundley in the clash of No. 1 seeds.

Griffis completed a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Mendoza in No. 3 singles action, helping the Spirits win every singles match in two-set fashion.

WHAT THE SPIRITS ACCOMPLISHED IN THE FALL SEASON
Salem concluded the 2023 fall season with a win over Guilford (7-2), while three the trio of Adley Keim (3-0), Cadence Durham (2-1) and Mariana Faint (2-1) earned two individual wins apiece.

The five-point win over the Quakers marked the first time since the 2018 season that Salem opened the season with a victory. The Spirits last opened the season with a win on September 29, 2018 when they downed Hollins by a 9-0 margin.

All three of Keim's victories came in the No. 1 singles position, while Faint picked up both wins in the fall season as the No. 2 singles player. Durham led the way for the Spirits in the No. 3 position with two triumphs of her own.

Faint and Keim paired up in No. 1 doubles to win all three matches in the fall slate, while Durham teamed with Alyx Diggs to notch one win in No. 3 doubles.

SPIRITS CAP OFF FALL SLATE WITH TRIUMPH OVER GUILFORD
Guilford Recap (Sept. 24): The Spirits won their fifth straight meeting against Guilford.

The Spirits earned two points in doubles action. One of those points came from the No. 1 pair of first year's Mariana Faint and Adley Keim, who defeated Ashley Belnap and Kancie Tate by an 8-6 margin. Teammates Cadence Durham and Alyx Diggs, who were the No. 3 seeds for Salem, grabbed an 8-1 win over Molly Wilson and Bethany Lupo.

Guilford's lone doubles point came from Jolie Nhouyvanisvong and Nya Reed, who fought past the hard-charging pair of Alana Bridges and Emily Griffis to post an 8-7 (7-5) victory in No. 2 doubles play.

The Spirits picked up five points in singles play, including Keim's 6-2, 6-0 win over Belnap in No.1 singles action, helping the Salem rookie to mark her first collegiate wins in both singles and doubles action. Faint was also successful with a victory in No. 2 singles action, picking up her second win of the day and first collegiate victory, by scores of 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7) over Nhouyvanisvong.

Durham helped Salem sweep the top three seeds as she took down Kancie Tate by scores of 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Bridges bounced back from her doubles setback to come away with a 7-5, 6-2 victory in No. 5 singles play over Wilson. First year Alyx Diggs picked up her first singles win in collegiate play by battling past Lupo by scores of 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

Guilford's lone win in singles action came by virtue of Reed's 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 triumph over Griffis in fourth-seeded action.

Pfeiffer, Meredith Recap (Sept. 30): Adley Keim completed her first home event with four points, winning both doubles and singles matches over the course of the day, but the Spirits were unable to down either Pfeiffer (7-2) or Meredith (5-4) at the Bert Lain Tennis Center.

Keim and Faint delivered one point for the Spirits, which came from the No. 1 doubles position, where they downed Megan Rekieta and Alison Sloop by an 8-4 margin.

Meanwhile, the Falcons picked up two points in the remaining doubles matches. The second-seeded pair of Kristen Colle and Riley Isley took down Alana Bridges and Emily Griffis by an 8-2 score. Meanwhile, the No. 3 tandem of

Delaney Geygan and Haley Ingenito defeated Cadence Durham and Alyx Diggs by an 8-7 (5-0) score.

Keim picked up a No. 1 singles win, her second of the fall, with a 4-6, 6-2, 10-5 downing of Rekieta. Pfeiffer would take the remaining five points in singles play, including Sloop, who posted a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Faint.

Ingenito followed the lead of her teammates as the third seed, posting a 6-0, 6-1 win against Durham. Isley added a 6-2, 6-1, downing of Griffis, for a Falcon point.

The fifth seed, Colle, claimed a 6-1, 6-2 win against Bridges, while No. 6 seed Geygan posted a 6-4, 6-4 win versus Diggs.

The pair of Keim and Faint posted their second doubles win of the day in the match with Meredith, posting an 8-4 win over Ellie Phillips and Hannah Higgins.

Ellie Osborne and Ryann Jennings earned an 8-2 victory against Bridges and Griffis, while

Savannah Duduk and Claire Southern took down Diggs and Durham by a 9-7 score for the Avenging Angels.

Keim's perfect record in singles play stayed intact following a 6-1, 1-0 (ret.) win over Osborne. Faint was also key for Salem in singles, providing a point with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Phillips.

Durham's 6-0, 7-5 win from No. 3 allowed Salem to sweep the Top-3 with a win over Higgins.

Jennings came through with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Griffis, while Dudu earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Bridges. The Avenging Angels also received a point in No. 6 singles as Southern handed Diggs a 6-0, 6-0 loss.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS SWEET BRIAR
The Spirits are facing Sweet Briar for the sixth time in program history on Sunday afternoon.

Sweet Briar owns a 4-1 lead in the head-to-head series, which dates back to a February 23, 2009 meeting. The Vixens claimed an 8-1 victory in that clash and followed with a 7-1 win later that same season on April 17th.

The lone Salem win in the series (5-4) came on May 8th in Winston-Salem. The Vixens claimed the last two meetings by scores of 7-2 (Sept. 17) and 8-1 (April 1).

ALL-TIME SERIES (vs. Sweet Briar)

HOW SWEET BRIAR ENTERS THE MATCH AT SALEM
The Vixens come to Salem with a 2-0 team mark after claiming a pair of 9-0 wins at Ferrum (Feb. 18) and the University of Lynchburg (Feb. 18).

Sweet Briar took part in three tournaments during the fall season, which began with the Battle of the Bridge (Sept. 9) hosted by the Vixens. Two weeks later, on September 23rd, Sweet Briar traveled to Fredericksburg, Va., to participate in the ITA DIII Southeast Regionals. The fall portion of the Sweet Briar schedule drew to a close at the Goucher Invitational on October 8th in Baltimore, Md.

The top individuals on the Vixens' roster are Maggie Minton (6-0) and Maria Caro (5-1). Isabela Guillarte enters the weekend with a 4-3 record on the season.