No. 5 Sweet Briar College handed No. 1 University of Lynchburg its first loss of the season in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference equestrian competition on Friday. The teams tied 5-5 in points, with Sweet Briar winning on total score of 770.50 to 748.50. The Vixens improved to 5-3, while the Hornets fell to 6-1.
The match took place at Sweet Briar, where the Vixens hosted the nationally top-ranked Hornets in single-discipline equestrian action. Lynchburg claimed the fences session with a 3-2 victory, but Sweet Briar responded by taking the flat competition 3-2, leading to the narrow overall tiebreaker win for the home team.
Senior Naomi Dachis of Sweet Briar earned Most Outstanding Performer honors in the fences session, scoring 84.5 while riding Kobe to defeat Lynchburg's Rebecca Collier by 29.5 points. This performance secured Dachis her second consecutive ODAC fences weekly award.
For Lynchburg, first-year Amaya Bellfield stood out in the flat competition, where she registered a 79.5-79.0 win over Sweet Briar's Hallie Nelson, both riding Trey. Bellfield also contributed a point in fences, scoring 85 on James to beat Nelson by one point. Her efforts earned her MOP honors for the flat and the ODAC flat rider of the week award.
The result marks a significant upset, as Lynchburg entered undefeated at 6-0 before this matchup. Both teams are ranked highly by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association, with Sweet Briar at No. 5 and Lynchburg at No. 1.
