The Massachusetts women’s tennis team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 6-1 victory over Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon at Bay Road Tennis Center.
The Minutewomen won doubles matches two and three after sophomore Ruth Crawford and senior Anna Woosley dropped their first match 6-4.
Coach Judy Dixon acknowledged the resiliency that her team showed after getting down early in the doubles period.
“We started slowly in one and two doubles and both teams were down,” she said. “However, they fought back well and we won two and were close at one. Number three doubles were quite strong and we controlled the court from start to finish.”
The strong comeback was thanks in part to junior Ana Yrazusta and freshman Janja Kovacevic rallying back to edge out a 7-5 victory. Senior Brittany Collens and freshman Ashley Avery finished the job with a 6-2 win in the third match of the doubles period.
Dixon liked what she saw from her team in singles action as well, in which her team won five of six matches.
“The singles were the same as doubles,” she said. “I think we played with courage, concentrated well and played well enough for the victory.”
Collens, Kovacevic, Yrazusta, and Woosley all won in straight sets, with Crawford winning in a second-set retirement.
While the two victories in the Minutewomen’s season thus far have come in fairly decisive fashion (5-2 vs. Connecticut, 6-1 vs. Quinnipiac), Dixon knows that there is still much room for improvement and in order for the team to get to where they want to be, there is still some fine-tuning that needs to be done in terms of fundamentals.
“We will have to work on some things this week like returns of serve, how to play the short ball and volleys in doubles.”
Dixon alluded to that fact that her team needs to have quick improvement in order to be ready for the challenge that awaits them on Friday in Providence, Rhode Island when the Minutewomen travel to Brown University at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
“Yesterday showed some good things and some things that we need to work on going into our Brown match on Friday,” she said. “Brown has always been a problem for us particularly because we always play them at [its] home courts which are quite fast. In order to beat them we have to be firing on all cylinders and deal with more pressure.”
With this being her 25th and final season at the helm, Dixon’s team knows every game is crucial, and an impressive win over Quinnipiac can add to the team’s confidence going into a tough match with the Bears.
Brown is looking to get back on a win streak after a 4-0 loss to Miami in South Florida last Saturday.
“[Our] team will be ready and they believe they can win,” Dixon said.
Jake Mackey can be reached at [email protected].
