By Andrea Garcia
This was a busy week for the women’s tennis team. After four matches, its record currently stands at 11-6. On Wednesday, April 13, the team hosted the women of St. John’s University and fell in each match.
Junior Mayu Sato and sophomore captain Estelle Wong made another appearance in first doubles, but fell to Natallia Vavulina and Anna Morozova, 6-2. In second doubles, the duo of freshmen Gianna Insogna and Whitney Weisberg posed more of a threat to Elgregen and Arranz, finishing their match at 6-3. After the first two doubles teams had completed their games, freshman Alexis Zobeideh and junior Destiny Grunin kept fighting in third doubles against Collins and Stanisz of Saint John’s. They were the last doubles loss of the day, 6-4.
In singles action against the Red Storms, Wong kept her spot in first singles, but fell in repeat 6-1, 6-1 sets against Vavulina. Sato held her ground in her second singles match versus Morozova, but ultimately lost, 7-5, 6-2. Zobeideh had a standout third singles face-off with Irina Preotescu. She lost 7-6 (7-0), 6-2. In fourth singles action, Grunin lost to Olaya Inclan in repeat 6-3 games. Delia Arranz defeated Weisberg, 6-3, 6-1. Lastly, Insogna lost to Jaide Collins in two 6-4 sets.
After their first wipe-out of the season, the women travelled to Hofstra on Thursday and came back from their previous defeat. In first doubles, Sato and Wong teamed up again and downed Sarah Bowen and Carmen Pestano, 6-1. Insogna and Weisberg kept up in second doubles, but flipped the first doubles score, losing 6-1. Zobeideh and Grunin took the third doubles point against Disha Yellayi and Giulia Leone, 6-4.
The top four Fordham players dominated in singles action. Sato returned to her place in first singles and defeated Sarah Bowen of Hofstra, 6-3, 6-4. Wong was moved down to the second singles play with Michal Kaplan and took the first set, 6-3, and just pulled through to secure her win in the second set, 7-5. Zobeideh tired out Sarah Herndon and took the third singles point for Fordham. Grunin finished the win for Fordham by downing Carmen Pestano, 6-3, 6-2, with the fourth singles match. Insogna and Weisberg lost their fifth and sixth singles matches, 6-4, 6-0 and 6-4, 7-5, respectively.
On Saturday afternoon, Fordham hosted the New York Institute of Technology and celebrated Alumni Day. Sato and Wong defeated Melanie Bonyadi and Paulina Velasquez in first doubles play, 6-4. Gruinin and Zobeideh, however, endured through their second singles match against Gabriela Siembab and Justyna Krol, but ultimately lost 7-5. Weisberg and Insogna took the point by default with NYIT’s lack of players.
Fordham swept the singles points. Weisberg took her point by default at sixth singles as the NYIT Bears did not have a roster member to fill the spot. While Sato, Zobeideh and Insogna were unable to finish their respective matches against Benyadi, Siembab and Krol, Wong and Grunin secured the win for Fordham. For second singles, Wong defeated Alexandra Borgenhoff, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8). Grunin took on first doubles Velasquez and won a breezy 6-3, 6-1.
Closing out the weekend with Sunday’s match, the women were downed 6-1 in their last home match of the season against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen. Wong and Sato made a strong appearance together in first doubles to wipe out Ana Yrazusta and Carol Benito, 6-0. The teams of Weisberg and Insogna and Grunin and Zobeideh lost their second and third doubles matches, 6-0 and 6-4.
Fordham only produced one singles win for the day by Grunin in fourth singles against Anna Woosley, 4-6, 6-1 and a final 7-5. The rest of the team lost to their match opponents. Sato had a memorable performance against Ruth Crawford in first singles and lasted through her match, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (11-9), 10-2. Wong, Zobeideh and Insogna fell in their matches after tough three-set pieces.
The women are looking to rebound in their regular season match at Queens College on Tuesday, April 19 at 1 p.m. This will be their last regularly scheduled spring appearance before this weekend’s Atlantic 10 Conference Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio. The tournament will be their final event before the fall season.
