By TARA CANGIALOSI
This past weekend, the Fordham University women’s tennis team dropped two crucial matches to the University of Massachusetts and George Washington University, both Atlantic 10 Conference rivals.
On Friday, Feb. 28, the Rams traveled to a neutral location in the South Bronx to face the UMass Minutewomen, where they fell by a score of 2-5.
To begin the match, the first doubles pair of juniors Sarah Ali and Elliesa Ball defeated Arielle Griffin and Yuliana Motyl 8-5, while fellow juniors Bella Genkina and Anika Novacek were victorious at third doubles, taking the match 8-4 over Aarzoo Malik and Jessica Podlofsky. At second doubles, the senior-junior pair of Angie Dabu and Julie Leong were leading their opponents, Sonia Bokhari and Chanel Glasper, 6-3, when the match was called.
Despite the Rams’ success in doubles play, UMass recovered and took the match when they won five of the six singles matches. Genkina earned the sole win for the Rams, defeating Podlofsky in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-3.
At second singles, Ali won her first set against Motyl 6-2, but dropped her second and third 3-6 and 1-6, respectively. Ball dropped her first set to Bokhari 2-6, came back to take the second 6-4 and lost the third set 3-6 at first singles.
It was a tough loss for the Rams, considering they came out with such a strong showing in the doubles competition.
“Even though we lost to UMass, we can then get another shot at playing them in the conference tournament,” coach Bette-Ann Liguori said.
On Sunday, March 2, the Rams traveled to Queens looking to bounce back against fellow A-10 rival George Washington University. However, the Rams were unsuccessful and dropped the match 1-4 at the U.S. Tennis Center.
GW opened the match by winning the doubles points, taking both completed matches. Dabu and Leong fell 1-8 at second doubles to Grace Egger and Lana Robins, while Leah Pascarella and Stephanie Wei upended Genkina and Novacek at the third spot 8-2.
The GW Colonials won the match when they took three of the four singles matches. The sole win for the Rams came from Dabu, who beat Allison Hansen in straight sets 6-2 and 6-1.
Ball, Ali and Novacek all succumbed to their opponents at first, second and sixth singles, respectively.
Both of the losses to UMass and GW will affect the Rams’ record within the A-10 Conference, but they will look to bounce back in the upcoming weeks.
The Rams return to action on Saturday, March 8, when they travel to face the University at Albany, the State University of New York, at 12:30 p.m.
Tara Cangialosi is Web Editor at The Fordham Ram. You can follow her on Twitter @taracangialosi