The Massachusetts tennis team fell to the Richmond Spiders in a 4-0 loss on Saturday, April 27. The Spiders (16-7, 6-2 Atlantic 10) snapped the Minutewomen’s (12-7, 4-0 A-10) five-game win streak in the A-10 semifinal matchup in Orlando, Fla.
UMass freshman Martina Pavissich was the only Minutewoman who won a set during this playoff matchup. The freshman had a big-time win, 7-6, in set No. 1 over Richmond junior Elizabeth Novak. Pavissich and Novak rallied back and forth until the freshman put the ball in an awkward position for her opponent, forcing the ball to be hit back out of bounds. Pavissich secured a point off that scoring opportunity.
The second set went unfinished, but favored Novak 2-1.
Richmond freshman Abby Lee clinched the victory for the Spiders in singles, defeating Trinity Calinescu 6-2 and 6-3. Lee found herself down 2-1 in the first set early on but scored a streak of points consecutively to claim the match. The freshman had great alternation between soft and hard returns off serves to keep Calinescu on her toes. The UMass junior was the first one on her team to have a lead in singles, but she could not maintain it.
“Disappointed with the outcome,” head coach Juancarlos Nunez said. “I was proud of the way we competed and fought as a team.”
The early morning matches started with doubles, but the Minutewomen did not perform at their best during the doubles match on court No. 3. Pavissich and Calinescu faced off against Lainey O’Neil and Claire Le Du for the Spiders. The Richmond duo dominated the match 6-0. Calinescu and Pavissich were left running all over the court trying to claw their way back, but the Spiders kept on spinning their way to victory.
On court No. 2 were Ella Faessler and Amelia Tye for UMass, versus Richmond’s Novak and Sofia Barbulescu. This match was a close one, but yet again the Spiders showed brilliance on the court and won 6-4 to secure the first point on the day in doubles.
Court No. 1 featured Minutewomen seniors Mariana Campino and Belle Jonglertrakul against Lara Bakhaya and Andrea Campodonico. UMass had the momentum to win 5-4, but the match went unfinished due to the other two matches favoring Richmond. Campino had great returns off of serves, putting the ball in the back corners to make it challenging for her opponents to return the ball.
In singles, Court No. 1 was Campino against Barbulescu. The Minutewomen’s senior stormed out in front with a 4-1 lead in the first set, but Barbulescu clawed her way back to victory to swing the momentum of the match. Set No. 2 went unfinished with Campino out in front 2-1.
For UMass, Faessler was off her game during singles. Her opponent, Campodonico, secured the first point by placing the ball just out of reach. The junior secured one point herself, but was dominated 6-1 in the first set. Set No. 2 was a closer one, but still favored Campodonico 6-3, to notch another point for Richmond.
The Spiders claimed another point in singles when UMass’ Tye had an off day, losing 6-0 and 7-5 to Richmond’s Le Du in a close second set. The Massachusetts sophomore jumped out in front 1-0 in the second set, but Le Du was too much to handle for Tye.
The Minutewomen are officially out of the A-10 tournament with the loss. UMass had been undefeated against its conference opponents in the regular season, but its first loss all season to an A-10 opponent in the semifinal round, ended the season for the Minutewomen.
“It’s tough when your season ends with a loss,” Nunez said. “One thing I loved about our team this year was that we had a great team culture and a great team environment.”
Brennan McGrevy can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @BMcgrevy.
