The Massachusetts tennis team played its first outdoor match of the season Wednesday and stormed passed Rhode Island, 6-1, at the URI Tennis Complex in Kingston, R.I.
The Minutewomen (12-5, 6-1 Atlantic 10) came out strong and never let up, sweeping all the doubles matches and taking all but one of the singles.
UMass coach Judy Dixon knew coming into the match that it was going to be difficult adjusting to the outdoor elements, because they have not had many outdoor practices so far this season.
“This was our first outdoor match, and we had expectations that we could win but we knew we’d have some struggles,” Dixon said.
Leading the UMass doubles pairs were Yuliana Motyl and Chantal Swiszcz who won their decision, 8-5. The second pair consisting of Sonia Bokhari and Chanel Glasper, which picked up an 8-4 decision, and coasting to an 8-0 finish at the third pair was Jessica Podlofsky and Arielle Griffin.
The lone Minutewomen loss on the day was hard-fought battle in which junior Sonia Bokhari was out edged by the Rams (3-10, 0-3 A-10) No. 1.
Podlofsky made up for the loss with a thrilling third set tiebreaker victory. The junior battled back from a 4-6 loss in the first set to win the next, 6-4, before winning the tiebreaker, 10-4.
Podlofsky faced an unexpected challenge when URI’s No. 2 was named shortly before the match on Wednesday, which forced her to adjust to a different style of play. But in the longest match of the day, Dixon believed Podlofsky fought hard for the win.
“It was probably the match of the day having had to play a match against a very good player that has been playing well,” Dixon said. “The style matchup was very difficult.”
The No. 3 singles matchup also ended in a third set tiebreaker as UMass freshman Griffin pulled out the win 6-3, 6-7, 10-7.
The next three matches were big Minutewomen victories, with No. 4 Chanel Glasper sweeping 6-0, 6-0, No. 5 Chantal Swiszcz winning 6-2, 6-2 and closing out the day with a sweep was Jocelyn Providence 6-0, 6-0.
UMass closed out its A-10 slate with Wednesday’s win, but will return to Rhode Island on Saturday to take on Bryant at non. The Minutewomen returns home on Sunday for Senior Day to close out the regular season against Sacred Heart.
Dixon believes that her team’s performance this weekend will determine how prepared they are for postseason play.
“We feel pretty good about our chance in the conference tournament. The teams at the top are very close depending on the day,” Dixon said.
Ryan Barry can be reached at [email protected].
