Bison Women’s Tennis continued its fall campaign at the St. Joseph’s Invitational this past weekend with a singles championship win by first-year Natalie Devraj ’28. 

“It was very exciting to win my first collegiate singles championship, and a great confidence boost moving forward in the season,” Devraj said. “My favorite moment this weekend was getting to motivate each other by cheering them on and being motivated myself by hearing them cheer me on across the courts.”

Devraj started the weekend on Friday, Sept. 20, by competing in the Crimson Flight doubles with partner Caroline Marcus ’25, and taking a win over Drexel, 8-3. The pair competed again Saturday morning with another 8-3 win. Devraj dominated Saturday in singles play, winning both her matches. She came on top of St. Joseph, going 7-5, 6-1 and continued the victory streak against Fairfield, 6-1, 6-0. These wins secured her a spot in the Black Flight finals for Sunday. 

Devraj showed up to compete on the last day of the invitational, winning her finals match against Drexel, 6-1, 6-2; this gave Devraj a perfect 3-0 record for the weekend and a championship to match.

The Bison had other successes over the weekend as well. Along with Devraj and Marcus, Whitney King ’25 and Abby Platt ’26 took a doubles win on Friday with an 8-3 win over Drexel in the Crimson Flight. They also won their match on Saturday against St. Joseph’s, 6-3. Platt took a singles win in the Crimson Flight against Fairfield, 6-3, 7-6, but lost her quarterfinal match, sending her to the consolation bracket. King and Platt continued their doubles campaign on Sunday, running into Marcus and Devraj in the Crimson Flight title match. King finished her weekend with a win in singles to win her the consolation final in the Crimson Flight, leaving with a 2-1 record. King and Platt’s final doubles record was 2-0. In the Grey Flight, Cameron King ’28 and Jaycie Mair ’27 took an 8-0 doubles win over Hartford. Both reached Grey Flight singles consolation finals, taking wins in the semifinals.

Mirra Manolov ’26 defeated Hartford in the Black Flight singles, 6-0, 6-0 on Friday night. She continued her weekend on Saturday with a quarterfinal singles win, 6-7, 6-0, 10-8 over Fairfield. However, Manolov lost her semifinal match, finishing her weekend in the consolation bracket. She and Tori Allen ’27 won their doubles match 6-1 in the Crimson Flight consolation semifinal but lost in the finals to Fairfield, 6-2.

“After this weekend’s wins, I am looking forward to being able to play more matches alongside my teammates.” Devraj shares. “I feel motivated to win not just for myself but also for the other players. One person’s win is a win for everyone.”

The Bison will continue the fall season on Friday, Oct. 4, at the McClure Women’s Tennis Invitational in Maryland. The Invitational will run through Sunday, Oct. 6.