The Massachusetts women’s tennis team fell to 0-4 against the Ivy League yesterday, losing 6-1 to Yale, which drops its overall record to 5-9.
Earlier this year, the Minutewomen lost to Cornell, 4-3, Dartmouth, 7-0 and Brown, 6-1. The result was disappointing for UMass coach Judy Dixon, who had set a goal to beat an Ivy League team. Ivy schools traditionally have the strongest tennis programs in the Northeast.
The Minutewomen usually are at a disadvantage against the Ivies, having to play every game against them on the road.
“We’re always at a disadvantage because we always play them away, we never get to face them at home,” Dixon said. “But that won’t stop us from trying every year.”
Yale came into the meet on a five-game losing streak and a 3-8 overall record, but Dixon feels that its record does not reflect how talented the Bulldogs are.
“Yale does not ever overplay the ball, they are very solid and their footwork is excellent, they are on balance the whole time,” Dixon said. “They are very calm when the take the court, and they are very deliberate.”
The Minutewomen got an unpleasant surprise when they arrived in New Haven yesterday. All week long they had expected to compete in an indoor meet, but it was changed to an outdoor meet because the temperature was above 50 degrees. The switch caught UMass off guard.
“It’s awful, just awful, it’s not that hard to go out-to-in, but it’s very hard to go in-to-out,” Dixon said. “Because you know when you’re indoors the ball is just coming at you, and you don’t have to make any adjustments with your feet. Outdoors the ball is moving all the time; it moves towards you then it moves two or three inches because of the wind.”
Senior captain Masha Pozar drew the toughest challenge, having to face Bulldogs junior Janet Kim, who is ranked as a top 15 player in the east. While she lost the match 6-3, 6-4, she held her own against an elite opponent and according to Dixon, is really starting to reach her potential.
“Masha played a very good match against a player ranked in the top 20,” Dixon said. “I thought that she was in the match the whole time, and I feel like Masha is just starting to come back to playing the way I expect her to.”
Pozar also tied a UMass record in the doubles competition. While the Minutewomen lost the doubles point, Pozar and her partner Candynce Boney won their match, 8-5. The victory tied Pozar for most doubles victories all-time at UMass. Pozar and Boney are now ranked as a top 20 doubles pairing in the region.
The lone point for the Minutewomen was scored by No. 6 player Laura Danai, who beat Yale freshman Silia DeFilippis, 6-4, 6-3. Danai has been on a torrid pace recently.
Last week during the team’s road trip to South Carolina she went 2-0 in singles matches and 2-0 in doubles matches, in the process becoming the only player to go undefeated during spring break. Counting today’s win, Danai is 5-0 in her last five matches.
Dixon has considered the idea of moving up Danai from the sixth slot, but decided against it, preferring to have a consistent No. 6 player, rather than risking upsetting the balance of the team.
“It’s like when a baseball team has a bullpen pitcher who is winning games from the bullpen, you don’t want to rock the boat,” Dixon said. “I feel like I don’t want to rock the boat right now. I’ve got her in a place where she feels pretty comfortable, I’d like to play the season out and then see where she goes from there.”
This weekend, the Maroon and White get to return to Amherst for back-to-back games this Friday and Saturday against Holy Cross and Rhode Island, respectively.
Scott Feldman can be reached at [email protected]
