The Massachusetts women’s tennis team concluded its weekend with a 2-1 record Sunday afternoon. The Minutewomen successfully marked their place with a record of 7-5 on the season and 4-1 in the Atlantic 10 conference.
After defeating Rhode Island on Saturday, the team was back in action at Bay Road against Long Island. UMass locked in three wins this weekend as all three doubles continued their success.
With another outstanding 8-5 win from doubles tandem Yuliana Motyl and Chantal Swiszcz, the duo continues to hold their winning streak since Feb. 4.
And doubles Sonia Bokhari and Hazuki Onaga earned an 8-4 victory over Lisa Maas and Aleksandra Pavlovic. Jessica Podlofsky and Jocelyn Providence polished up their doubles match with an 8-0 win.
With five out of the six singles matches, Julia Comas, Chanel Glasper, Podlofsky and Onaga finished off with impressive two-match winning streaks. Overall, the weekend certainly belonged to Motyl’s with her extended three match winning streak and six wins for all her matches.
“The third match in three days is similar to what we will have to do if we want to win the conference,” said UMass coach Judy Dixon.
And that conference win will be on the teams mind, as it returns to competition on March 19, for a three-match trip beginning in Charleston, S.C.
Before the clash with Long Island, the Minutewomen competed with URI at the Bay Road Tennis Club. With a strong performance executed by all the doubles, UMass possessed three successful wins up against the Rams. Motyl and Swiszcz added onto their five straight victories with an 8-1 victory.
The Minutewomen held a different singles lineup by putting freshman Onaga in at No. 6, which was her first singles match for the team. She played rather aggressively and landed herself a singles debut of a straight set, 6-3, 6-3, by defeating Karolina Wojciak.
There was success across the board for the Minutewomen. In further singles action, Motyl, Bokhari, Podlofsky and Comas worked off their opponents with straight sets. Meanwhile, Comas’ win settled UMass with the fourth point for the match. With freshman Glasper’s 6-3, 6-3 victory, she achieved an overall 17-5 singles record.
The 7-0 match ended with UMass advancing to 6-5 on the season and 4-1 in Atlantic 10, and left Rhode Island with a 5-4 record with the loss.
The weekend began in Hanover, N.H., with a match against Dartmouth, which is ranked 56th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Despite the singles’ losses, Motyl had a solid 6-4, 6-4 win against Dartmouth Akiko Okuda who is No. 20 in the Northeast Region.
Although the second and third doubles struggled throughout their matches, first doubles, Motyl and Swiszcz landed an 8-6 win – leaving the Minutewomen with a 6-1 defeat match against the Big Green.
“In general, I believe that we could have won the match if we had come in with the belief of winning,” said Dixon.
Debbie Lee can be reached at [email protected].
