The Massachusetts tennis team fell to Boston University, 6-1 on Friday afternoon after dropping five of six singles matches and all three doubles matches.
The Minutewomen (10-5) lost the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches in straight sets. Freshman Arielle Griffin managed to take the No. 4 singles match in three sets. She lost the first set 6-0, but came back to claim the Minutewomen’s only victory of the day.
UMass’ struggles continued with its doubles play, as the Minutewomen dropped all three matches, 8-1.
Coach Judy Dixon said her doubles’ players were not like themselves on Friday.
“We were out of sync, and we were out of focus, and we were complaining,” Dixon said. “We’ve only lost once in doubles play all year, and then we were just awful.”
Before traveling to Boston University, the preceding match for UMass at LIU Brooklyn was cancelled, making this match its first since spring break. Dixon had no doubts that the absence of games, among other things affected the players.
“I think not playing, not going on spring break which is the first time we have ever done that, definitely had an effect,” she said. “The lack of play during spring break, it took away our toughness, and our ability to react to adverse conditions well. Usually when you’re playing match after match you can do that better than we did, and we did not do that well.”
When Dixon talked about the adverse conditions, she was referring to the BU arena where the match was held, which is a multi-purpose building. Dixon felt that the many different lines and the condition of the tennis court threw off her players.
“[The arena] is not a very ideal tennis area,” Dixon said. “It isn’t the whole story behind [the loss], but it played a large part in it.”
The Minutewomen have a 4-0 home record, but they have struggled away from Amherst with a 4-5 record this season.
“I think that the key factor here was the inability to be able to adjust to conditions that are not controllable,” Dixon said. “We play very well at home, but I have some concerns on our ability to adjust when we are away.”
She also believes that these inabilities led to a lack of toughness.
“[BU] had something to prove, and we let them do it,” she said. “We laid down a little bit.”
Despite her team’s struggles, Dixon believes that this match was a wake-up call.
“We have the ability to control our destiny, it just starts now,” she said.
Tom Mulherin can be reached at [email protected].
