Practice makes a perfect week for tennis

After two tough losses last week, the women’s tennis team pulled off three great wins in a row against Trinity College (5-4), Colby College (5-4) and Smith College (7-2). The team had focused all week on strengthening their doubles play, and it certainly paid off.

“Our doubles wins have been absolutely critical for the past three matches, especially Trinity and Smith,” said Anika Fischer ’10. “Going into the singles round up by two…that was the reason we won. It helped us mentally, taking off so much pressure for the singles players.”

In the Trinity match on April 3, number one doubles partners Madalina Ursu ’09 and Fischer pulled off a close 8-6 victory. Following at the number-two slot were Alex Sirois ’09 and Linda McDougal ’11 with a tremendous win at 8-0. Singles players Ursu and Sirois captured two more wins for the team, tying it up at four-all. The deciding match came down to Rachael Ghorbani ’09 playing at number three. After dropping the first set (2-6), Ghorbani heard word of the tie and managed to come back, winning her final two sets (6-2, 6-3).

“This was huge for Rachael,” Fischer said. “Going into her third set with both teams watching…there is so much pressure when your match decides who is going to win. Furthermore, we all knew if we beat Trinity, and the other teams we won against last year, we will be going to NESCACs.”

Ghorbani fought through the pressure and gave the Cards a stronger chance to make it to the tournament this year.

In the following NESCAC match against Colby on April 5, the Cards defeated the Mules by only one point. However, the team believes the score suggests that the match was a lot closer than it really was.

“We should have won by a lot more,” Sirois said. “We went into a few three-setters in the singles that shouldn’t have happened. If we hadn’t lost some of those we would have won by a lot more. Furthermore, away matches can be tougher. The conditions are never perfect.”

Despite the close call, the tennis squad came out on top. With standout performances by the double duo Ursu and Fischer at number one doubles, Sirois and McDougal at number two, the team continued its confident run throughout the match.

In the singles round, Ania Preneta ’09 swept her opponent 6-0, 6-0 in number one singles, while Fischer won her first set 6-4 at number two, dropping one set to Colby (2-6) but taking home the final set 6-4. Ursu also had a successful win, with a final score of 6-3 and 6-2.

In the third match against Smith, the Cards entered missing a number of key starting players. However, the team was able to step it up and earn a win for Wes.

“Many of the players weren’t used to playing that high on the roster and it was really impressive how well they did,” Fischer said. “Lizzie Collector [’09] pulled through a really tough match playing number three singles. Ania Preneta had trouble at the beginning of her match because the points were really long, but once she got ahead she took off like a rocket.”

After a great week, the Cards will travel to Williams this Saturday, April 12 for their next match against the Ephs.