The Massachusetts tennis team had its hands full over the weekend, competing in the Big Green Invitational at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
The tournament consisted of four schools competing over three days, with representatives participating from UMass, Boston University, Dartmouth and Ohio State, all looking to cap off their fall seasons on a positive note.
Friday’s play didn’t start well for UMass, where the squad picked up two combined victories in both singles and doubles play, out of 12 matches played.
Senior Kaitlyn Carpenter and sophomore Jocelyn Providence teamed up for the only win in doubles, defeating the Big Green’s Rachel Decker-Sadowski and Valeriya Tatisheva in flight three, 8-6.
The rest of the doubles pairs made it interesting even in defeat, with notable losses coming from Candynce Boney and Julia Comas (6-8), as well as Tanisha Hodgson and Chantel Swiszcz (7-9). Head coach Judy Dixon didn’t want to put too much pressure on her players going into the tournament, looking for them to just, “let the rackets fly.”
In singles, Boney, for the first time all season, dropped a set, ultimately losing to Dartmouth’s Decker-Sadowski, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6. Freshman Jessica Podlofski won her first set against Tatisheva, before falling in the final two sets.
Saturday saw the Minutewomen compete against the Terriers, with not-so-favorable results. UMass was victorious in one more match combined than the day before, at three total victories.
Swiszcz and freshman Clara Matias teamed up to defeat BU’s Kendel Drake and Amelia Martinez, 8-2 in flight four. Carpenter and Providence were not able to go back-to-back days with doubles victories, losing to the pair of Leonie-Charlotte Athanasiadis and Jessi Linero, 8-4 in flight three.
Singles play saw UMass come away with victories by the senior Carpenter, and the sophomore Providence, both of whom won handily. Carpenter defeated the Terriers’ Martinez, 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets. Providence won her match in straight sets as well, defeating Drake, 6-1, 6-1.
Even though UMass competed against BU on Saturday, Swiszcz defeated OSU’s Kelsey Becker, 6-2, 6-0, in a flight seven singles match.
Play continued Sunday, as the rest of the squad competed against the Buckeyes, who were ranked No. 33 in the ITA at the end of last season.
The Minutewomen had their hands full with the Buckeyes, coming out with one win combined Sunday, out of seven total matches played.
Podlofksy was the lone victor, defeating OSU’s Tiffany Dittmer, after losing the first set, 4-6. The freshman then came back to defeat Dittmer in straights sets, 6-3, 6-3, to win the match.
Freshman and top singles player Yuliana Motyl competed hard against the Buckeye’s Kara Cecil in defeat, losing in three sets, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.
Dixon put Motyl at the top of the lineup for singles, wanting to test her to see what her game had to offer against of the best teams in the nation. Even in defeat, this was Motyl’s best match start-to-finish in her young collegiate career.
Matias did not win matches on back-to-back days of competition, losing to OSU’s Noelle Malley, 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets.
The pairing of Boney and Comas gave Ohio State’s strong combo of Cecil and Malley a run for their money, losing 8-6 in a hard fought match. This pairing proved to progress as the weekend went on, possibly indicating a set-in-stone combo for the future.
The weekend’s tournament concluded the fall season for the Minutewomen, who will pick up play against Boston College in late January. Dixon used this weekend’s play as a lesson that if you want to be the best around, you have to compete hard and beat the best that collegiate tennis had to offer.
Scott Cournoyer can be reached at [email protected].
