The women’s tennis team defeated Bentley College 8-1 this past Friday in Waltham, Mass. to notch its third straight victory.
The Cards swept the doubles matches from Bentley in convincing fashion, improving the team’s spring doubles record to 8-1. Ania Preneta ’09, Madalina Ursu ’09, Alex Sirois ’09, Emily Fish ’09, and Suz Ragab ’06 all claimed victory in their singles matches.
One highlight was Fish’s hard-fought victory (7-6, 6-4) in a match that finished in the dark. Even though the courts were almost dark and the ball was barely visible, Fish refused to call the match a draw, and eventually pulled off the win.
The team started out its season in Southern California, facing off again Cal Tech and the City College of Santa Barbara. In the opening match, the Cards took down Cal Tech 9-0. They earned another convincing victory against Santa Barbara, winning 8-1.
Five team members hold undefeated records in both singles and doubles over the first three matches. Preneta, playing second singles and second doubles with Ursu, is the highest ranked of the undefeated players. She has yet to drop a set in her singles matches and she and Ursu have rolled through their doubles matches in fine fashion. Ursu, who is from Romania and grew up playing on clay courts, is finding her game on the hard courts and playing some fine tennis.
“[Ursu] has really upgraded her game and has developed a great net game which has made her a fantastic all court player,” Ragab said.
Rachael Ghorbani ’09 continues to hold down the first singles spot as she did in the fall. This spring she holds a record of 2-1 in singles and doubles, teaming up with fourth singles player Sirois in the first doubles position. She dropped her first singles match of the year Friday (2-6, 6-7) despite a valiant comeback effort in the second set.
Ragab has earned a combined record of 6-0 playing sixth singles and third doubles with Elizabeth Collector ’09. Fish, who was injured for much of the fall, rounds out the singles lineup at fifth singles, and she too is undefeated thus far.
“I’ve developed a better net game and a better serve in the off season, and I’ve been working on strength training and being more aggressive with my ground strokes as well,” Ragab said. “I’m not worried about playing pretty, I’m just worried about winning. Whatever brings on the ‘W’”
Friday’s victory over Bentley was the first step in the team’s quest to reach the NESCAC Championships. Because of new qualification rules, the Cards will most likely need to go undefeated in their spring matches in order to qualify.
“The season is off to a nice start with our win at Bentley,” Ragab said. “Though we beat them 8-1, they still were a solid team. So far we’ve gotten off to a great start with no injuries, good doubles chemistry and strategy, and good mental game.”
For the six freshmen on the team, the fall season was an opportunity to adjust to the high level of competition of collegiate tennis. If the success of the spring so far is any indication, the freshmen, under Ragab’s guidance, have matured significantly.
“I’m personally proud of our team,” Ragab said. “Even though there are some team issues and injuries and illnesses, when we get to the singles part of our match, we know what needs to be done and we don’t lose focus of it. The freshmen have matured a lot over the offseason as well.”
The match at 4 p.m. on Wednesday against Mount Holyoke is the team’s first home match of the season.
Leave a Reply