By Jake Grogan
The strong season continues for Fordham’s Women’s tennis team, as the ladies are just a few days removed from demonstrating dominance in a 6-1 victory over Rhode Island at home.
The match started with a double point win by the Rams, a result that would wind up meaningless after the Rhode Island athletes failed to perform the rest of the match. Sophomore Destiny Grunin started things off with a 6-0, 6-1 win at sixth singles over Rhode Island’s Gina Atanasoff, followed shortly by a 6-3, 6-2 win by senior Bella Genkina at the fifth position. Freshman Estelle Wong dealt the knockout punch at third singles, beating Anna Peacock 6-3, 6-2.
The win was especially important to seniors Ellie Ball, Sarah Ali, Julie Leong, Bella Genkina and Anika Novacek, who were all honored prior to Fordham’s 6-1 win in celebration of Senior Day.
“It was incredible,” said Sarah Ali, a senior who won both her doubles and singles match against Rhode Island. “Being a senior is so unreal and it’s hard to believe that I’ve been playing tennis at Fordham for four years now.”
The victory has the Rams sitting at 6-3 since losing to Drexel at West Point in early March. Winners of three straight matches following that stand-off, the ladies did not score a point in two of their next three contests, losing to VCU and Stony Brook by a combined 11 points. Fordham rallied, winning two of their last three heading into a match against Queens College.
This season has been a success so far for a squad that entered the year with high expectations. After establishing strengths in both the doubles and singles aspects of the game, the Rams look ahead to the conference championship.
“The season has been going great so far,” said Ali. “We now have to prepare for our A-10 Conference Tournament, in which we are seeded fifth out of 14 teams.”
Fordham will open up the tournament against the 12th seeded Rhode Island, which they just beat 6-1. A win would have them face either fourth seeded Davidson or 13th seeded St. Bonaventure for the first time this season. The VCU Rams earned the first seed for the third straight year and blanked Fordham earlier this year with a 4-0 win.
