The Massachusetts tennis team started the season off strong, largely thanks to Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Ella Faessler.
On Feb. 1 and Feb. 2, UMass dominated Fairfield 7-0 and Holy Cross 6-1. Faessler had a big weekend, leading to her first Player of the Week honor, and has continued to show excellence on the court.
Faessler went 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles over the week. Against the Crusaders (1-4), the junior played on court one and won the first two games, 6-2 and 6-0, over Holy Cross captain Ahana Nagarkatti. At court two in singles against the Stags (0-6), Faessler won her set in three games, winning 6-0, 10-8 and losing 7-6 to Fairfield freshman Victoria Mandma.
In doubles against the Crusaders, Faessler played alongside Amelia Tye. The duo’s performance propelled them to a 6-0 victory in their first match. In the second doubles match, the pair played against Fairfield and stalled at a 4-4 tie as the match went unfinished.
Faessler and Tye have each dominated in singles for the Minutewomen (4-1), both holding 4-1 records on the season, alongside an undefeated 4-0 record in doubles.
UMass had two weekend sweeps, defeating Siena College 5-2 and Merrimack 4-0 back on Jan. 26. Yet again Faessler was in control on the tennis courts. She won both singles matches 6-0 on court three over the Saints (1-4) sophomore Zaara Omar.
Freshman Martina Pavissich earned her first collegiate singles wins in consecutive set matches, winning both matches over Sienna, 6-3 and 6-1.
The Minutewomen have a 13-1 record in doubles matches, thanks to great team chemistry. They also boast a solid 18-8 singles record. Head coach Juancarlos Nunez has been with UMass since June of 2017 and has been a huge part of the Minutewomen’s success, holding an 80-43 record (.650) and a 25-5 (.833) A-10 record.
After a 2024 A-10 Conference Championship, UMass lost 4-0 last season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Stanford. However, the team seems more than ready to compete to make the tournament again.
The success the Minutewomen saw last season and so far this year can also be attributed to assistant coach Hannah McColgan. McColgan joined the UMass coaching staff back in July of 2023. She played tennis at Northwestern as an undergraduate student and at Maryland as a graduate, where she helped the Terrapins achieve their highest ranking in program history at No. 33 with 17 wins.
On top of the success the former Maryland player had, she has helped the Minutewomen secure their third ever conference title as an assistant coach in the A-10. McColgan became the third ever UMass assistant coach to receive the ITA New England Region Assistant Coach of the Year honor.
The Minutewomen don’t face A-10 opponents until March 19, with the first match being away at George Washington. If UMass wants to secure a second straight A-10 title, then they have to get hot at the right time in conference play like last season, going 4-1 in A-10 regular season play. The Minutewomen lost their first conference game last season, but then went on to win seven A-10 games straight, including three tournament matches.
After UMass hosts Army and St. John’s, they have a three-game road game stretch, facing Rutgers, Dartmouth and Harvard. Last season on the road, the Minutewomen went 4-7 compared to an impressive 7-1 home record. UMass will be tested on the road this season and look to improve that away record from last year.
The Minutewomen get 13 days of rest after their impressive start, but will host Army on Saturday, Feb. 15 and St. John’s on Sunday, Feb. 16, in search of replicating another weekend sweep. Both matches are set to start at 1 p.m.
Brennan McGrevy can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @BMcgrevy
