The UMass women’s tennis team showed major improvements this past weekend against Columbia despite losing its dual match, 5-2.
The Minutewomen (1-4) picked up its two wins in singles play on straight sets from No. 3 Jessica Podlofsky and No. 4 Julia Comas.
Podlofsky and Comas both impressed UMass coach Judy Dixon with their gutty performances on the court.
“Julia moved well, stayed on the offense and basically took the match away from the Columbia player by not letting her dictate the points,” said Dixon. “Jess played grinding tennis mixed in with some intermittent offense and hung around long enough and well enough to close out the match.”
The top two singles players for UMass, Yuliana Motyl and Sonia Bokhari, were clearly overmatched against their opponents and fell in straight sets. Motyl especially was up against a tough opponent, Nicole Bartnik, who is rated the best player in the Northeast after she won the ITA Regionals in the fall. Bokhari’s opponent, Bianca Sanon, was also a tough opponent as she is ranked as one of the best players in the region as well.
This meant that the Minutewomen would need victories from their bottom singles players and doubles teams to defeat Columbia (2-0).
No. 5 singles player Chanel Glasper had a chance, but eventually fell in a grueling match to Katarina Kovacevic 7-6 (10-2), 7-5. Glasper had been hot of late picking up the only victories for UMass in the previous weekend of play against Boston College and Harvard.
Also, No. 6 singles player Chantal Swiszcz lost in straight sets to Chelsea Davis. Dixon realized the importance of winning the No. 6 spot and the confidence it could have given Glasper who was still battling on the court.
“We are working hard with our No. 6 player to get her back in stride with a definite game plan. We needed to win here to give Chanel a chance to close out the match at No. 5. I believe that if the match score had been 3-3 with Chanel still on the court we would have won,” said Dixon.
Dixon also has been stating the importance of winning the doubles point as her team’s key to winning as they have a ‘bottom-up’ strategy. The doubles play definitely improved from the previous weekend, as all three matches were close, but in the end Columbia picked up all three matches and the doubles point to clinch the match.
Dixon was much happier with her doubles teams this week but she knows there is still room for improvement.
“The doubles were all close,” said Dixon. “We had opportunities at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles where we were up a break of serve and then we lost our serve at the critical moment in both matches. We did not convert at that critical moment.”
Dixon was pleased with the way her team performed and recognized the progress they had made.
“In all, I was pleased with our intensity and competitiveness. We are merely a service game away from beating teams in the top 75. Now we must be able to close out when ahead, step up under pressure to win,” said Dixon.
Up next on the schedule is a weekend full of A-10 opponents in Philadelphia, as the Minutewomen will take on Temple, Saint Joseph’s, and Duquesne to open up A-10 play.
Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.
