By TARA SLEDJESKI
STAFF WRITER
The Fordham women’s tennis team closed out its regular season this past week with two wins and one loss. Both wins came at Fordham, in the Rams’ final two home matches of the season. Both Army and LIU struggled to beat the Rams’ strong singles play at home.
The Rams started out the past week with the home match against Army on April 10. The match was a 5-2 victory. Things started out slowly for the Rams after they failed to win any of their doubles matches and thus did not pick up the doubles point. But, things picked up after the Rams won five of their six singles matches. Angelika Dabu, Julie Leong, Anika Novacek, Sarah Ali and Bella Genkina all won their singles matches.
“Our win against Army last Wednesday was huge for us,” Dabu said, “and I believe it created some momentum leading up to the final days of our season.”
The Rams have struggled in the past against Army, so it was huge for the team to finally get a win against them.
Coming off of their home victory, the Rams traveled to George Washington University on April 13, where they came up just short of another win. The Rams lost 4-3, in a match that came down to the final singles match of the day.
Once again, the Rams began their day by missing out on the doubles point after losing two of three doubles matches. In singles play, however, the Rams came out strong again. Simidian, Leong and Novacek all picked up wins in singles.
The day was not a complete disappointment for the Rams despite the loss.
“The 4-3 loss to a team like GW proved that we are capable of taking down some of the top teams in our conference,” said Dabu.
The Rams finished up their regular season on April 13, at home against LIU. Before the match began, senior Simidian was honored with a special Senior Day ceremony to mark her last home match as a Ram. The day would only get better for Simidian after the Rams pulled out the 5-2 victory.
After struggling at doubles all week, the Rams opened up this match by taking the doubles point and winning all three doubles matches. Simidian and Ali won first doubles, Novacek and Genkina won second and Angelika Dabu and Leong won third. On the singles side of things, Simidian won her first singles match in comeback fashion to close out her home career for Fordham. Ali, Novacek and Dabu also won their singles matches.
With the conclusion of the regular season, the Rams now look forward to the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, which begin Thursday April 18 in Charlottesville, Va. Fordham will face Duquesne in the first round of the A-10 tournament. The Rams finished their spring season with a 9-7 record, with six of the nine wins coming in their last eight matches. Coach Bette-Ann Liguori is looking forward to the championships after her team’s performance to end the regular season.
“We won six out of the last eight matches and the team is gaining confidence with every win,” Liguori said. “My players are starting to believe in themselves as a team now and are looking forward to the conference championship this week.”
Dabu also stressed the confidence the team has gained.
“Our season started off a little rough, but we have gradually become a stronger, more confident team in preparation for the final stretch.”
The Rams are looking to do better in the tournament than they did last year when they lost in the first round to a lower-seeded team.
