BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech women's tennis team suffered its' first loss of the 2008 dual match season with a tight 5-2 loss to No. 50 Ohio State Sunday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus. The Buckeyes improved 4-0 on the year with the victory.

Tech (3-1), ranked No. 63 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason national poll, took two of the three doubles matches for the first point of the day, but dropped five of the six singles contests.

In singles, Ohio State quickly took a 2-1 lead as Julie Blackmore defeated Jessica Brouwer (Jr., Maarssen, Netherlands), 6-0, 6-1, at No. 4, and Cami Hubbs picked up a 6-1, 6-2, victory at No. 5 over Tech's Holly Johnson (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.). The Hokies drew closer as Inga Beermann (Jr., Bad Salzuflen, Germany) won 6-2, 6-4, at No. 1 over Paloma Escobedo, but Ohio State made it 3-2 as Caitlin O'Keefe defeated Abbey Walker (Jr., Lancaster, S.C.), 6-1, 7-6 (2) in the No. 6 match.

With the match hanging in the balance, Ohio State's Christina Keesey outdueled Jessica Long (Sr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) in the No. 3 contest, 6-4, 7-6 (4). The Buckeyes completed the scoring as Angela Dipastia won a tough 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, match at No. 2 against Yasmin Hamza (Fr., Cairo, Egypt).

In doubles action, Brouwer/Hamza took the No. 1 match, 8-4, over Dipastina/Keesey and Tech clinched the point with a 8-3 win at No. 3 by Beermann/J.J. Larson (Sr., Orchard Park, N.Y.) against Escobedo/O'Keefe. Long/Johnson dropped their No. 2 match, 8-5, against Blackmore/Hubbs.

Tech returns to action on Sat., Feb. 9, when the Hokies host Old Dominion at 10 a.m. and Elon at 3 p.m. Both matches will be played at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus.