The Massachusetts tennis team’s fall-season finale was a resounding success, as the Minutewomen claimed a number of key victories at the Big Green Invitational.
The Minutewomen shined in the three-day tournament in which they competed against Boston University, Minnesota and host-school Dartmouth, winning seven of their 10 doubles matches along with nine total singles wins.
“It was outstanding,” UMass coach Judy Dixon said. “We competed against three really tough schools”
Ana Yrazusta Acosta and Carol Benito highlighted the weekend for the Minutewomen with their efforts in the doubles matches. The duo went undefeated in their three matches by knocking off each opposing schools’ top doubles teams.
Dixon praised Acosta, a freshman, saying she “continues to be the one of the stronger players in the conference.” In singles play,
Acosta lost to Taylor Ng of Dartmouth, who earned second team All-Ivy League honors last year, in what Dixon called “a really tight match.” Acosta bounced back with a win over Minnesota’s Caroline Ryba in her next match.
Acosta’s emergence has been one of the biggest surprises for UMass this fall. In fact, Dixon even went as far to say that Acosta is “probably one of the most talented players I have ever had on a team.”
“We knew she was good,” Dixon said, “but we didn’t know she was that good”
Along with Acosta, senior Chanel Glasper turned in an impressive performance over the weekend. Glasper went 3-0 in both singles and doubles play, teaming up with Anna Woosley in the doubles portion.
Though she struggled throughout the fall, Junior Ariel Griffin finished the season off strong going 2-0 in the Big Green Invitational.
“(It is) absolutely positively is such a great way for her to finish the fall,” Dixon said.
Overall, Dixon was thrilled with her team’s performance this weekend and throughout the fall in general.
“I couldn’t be happier with how this turned out. … It really bodes well for the spring,” Dixon said.
In the NCAA, matches don’t start counting toward standings and rankings until Jan. 1. As a result, Dixon said the fall season is a time for teams to get their players acclimated to playing tennis on the collegiate level, and working out all the kinks before the spring season starts.
“What we showed I think is that we’ve taken huge strides to become one of the top teams in the northeast,” Dixon said. “We had a great fall and we finished on a really high note.”
UMass will begin its spring season on Jan. 30 in Providence, Rhode Island, when they take on Brown in a dual match.
Philip Sanzo can be reached at [email protected].
