The women’s tennis team scored two big wins last week against Starmount and West Wilkes.

Ashe took a close 5-4 win over the Lady Rams in a back-and-forth match that lasted over three hours.

Top seed Anna Wooten was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Heaven Walters. With this victory, Wooten remained undefeated in conference singles matches, and has suffered only one loss this season against non-conference foe Watauga.

Second seeded Haley Maloney picked up a big 6-4, 7-5 win against Ashley Griffin.

The third, fourth, and fifth seeded matches all went in favor of Starmount. Miracle Walters took a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Kasey Curcio. Jordan Shore was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Maggie Witherspoon, and Madison McClellan captured a third set tiebreaker to beat Mary-Austin Tugman. Tugman beat McClellan 6-0 in the first set, but lost 5-7 in the second set. In the tiebreaking third set, McClellan escaped with a 12-10 victory.

The final singles match of the day was a triumph for Ashe County. Maggie Brown defeated Kristin Nicks, 6-1, 7-5, leaving the match tied at 3-3 going to the doubles matches.

The duo of Wooten and Maloney remained undefeated in doubles matches with an 8-5 win over H. Walters and Griffin.

M. Walters and Shore tied the match up at 4-4 with a 9-7 win against Curcio and Tugman. With the match on the line, the tandem of Witherspoon and Brown picked up an 8-3 win to give the match to the Lady Huskies.

“I am so proud of these players for not giving up and hanging in there to pull off this victory,” said head coach Larry Dix. “This was a very big win for us and did a lot for the confidence of the entire team.”

On Thursday, Ashe finished off the week with a commanding 9-0 win over West Wilkes.

Ashe moved to 5-3 overall and a stellar 5-2 in Mountain Valley Conference action.

The women are back in action on Monday with a home match against North Wilkes. This match was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 4 but had to be moved due to the rain. Ashe will also host Wilkes Central on Tuesday and travel to Forbush on Thursday as the second half of the conference schedule gets underway.

MVAC standings

*As of 9-2-12

1. East Wilkes, 4-0

2. Wilkes Central, 6-1

3. Ashe County, 5-2

4. Starmount, 5-2

5. Forbush, 2-3

6. Elkin, 2-5

7. North Wilkes, 1-4

8. Alleghany, 0-4

9. West Wilkes, 0-4