By Gigi Speer

The Rams came out to fight this Saturday against A-10 opponent Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia, knocking them down 6-1.

They jumped out to an early lead, taking the doubles point in a sweep. Sophomore Arina Taluyenko and senior Tatiana Grigoryan defeated Amanda Nava and Isis Gill-Reid at first doubles, 6-3, and senior-freshman duo Alexis Zobeideh and Genevieve Quenville continued the success in second doubles, winning 6-0 over Paige Conrad and Alex Kramer.

The Rams continued to dominate, taking five singles matches and four in straight sets. At first singles, Taluyenko came back from a first set loss to Nava, 6-4, winning the second, 4-6 and the third, 7-6.

In second singles, sophomore Maia Balce won at 6-1 and 7-5 over Gill-Reid while senior Gianna Insogna blazed through fourth singles, defeating Conrad 6-4 and 6-2. In the fifth position, Quenville won against Kramer in an epic 6-0 and 6-0 show. Freshman Nicole Li rounded out the Rams, winning 6-0 and 6-1 against Katherine Devlin.

The team then loaded the bus and headed back up to the Bronx to play only their second outdoor match at 11 a.m. on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts.

Despite their impressive showing on Saturday, the Rams did not start with the same intensity against Davidson on a sunny Sunday morning. The team dropped all three doubles matches, but managed to get two wins in singles, finishing with a 5-2 loss to the A-10 foe.

Coach Peter Banas summed up the day: “We were playing outdoor home games, it was our second outdoor match and we were not ready transitioning from playing indoors.”

The two singles wins came from Taluyenko and Grigoryan, at first and third singles, respectively. Taluyenko bested Megan Scholvinck 6-2 and 6-3, while Grigoryan came back from a first set loss of 7-5 to win the next two 6-4, 6-3 against Gabrielle Centenari.

“However, we are certain that we will take them down in conference in Orlando because we will get used to the conditions,” continued Banas, referring to the A10 Championship that will take place there from April 24-27.

Before that, though, the Rams have a shot at redemption as they play again on their home Hawthorn/Rooney Courts this Saturday, April 13 against Siena College on senior day.