After beginning the spring season with a torrid winning streak, the women’s tennis team has fallen back to Earth as of late. Following a 4-3 loss to Brown on Friday in Providence, R.I., the Red (13-7, 2-3 Ivy) was swept out of New Haven, Conn., 7-0 by Yale.
Although Cornell won two of the three doubles against the Bears, Brown stormed back in the singles matches, winning four of six to seal the win. For the visitors, senior captain Ngozi Amobi won at the No. 2 position, while No. 5 sophomore Nicole Chiu also claimed a victory. In the doubles, Amobi teamed up with freshman Kate Sternberg to win the No. 2 slot while sophomore Suzanne Wright and freshman Lauren Leigh Tallent took the top flight.
“Everybody thought we should have beaten Brown,” Amobi said.
Against the Bulldogs, Cornell only managed one victory, in the first match of the day — the No. 3 doubles match won by Chiu and classmate Alex DelPrete.
Wright, Amobi, Tallent, Sternberg, Chiu, and DelPrete all fell in the singles contests.
“It’s really disappointing,” Amobi remarked, “but we’re more learning from it and using it to light a fire under our butts.”
Because Cornell is used to the indoor confines of Reis Tennis Center, it was flustered by Yale’s outdoor courts.
However Amobi couldn’t fault the Red for lack of effort.
“Everyone fought hard,” she said.
Parting Shots
The team will finish off its season next weekend when it hosts Princeton on Friday and visits Penn the following day.
Despite this weekend’s losses, Amobi is confident that the Red can rebound.
Noting the parity in the Ivy League, she said, “Any one team can beat any other team on any given day.”
Archived article by Shiva Nagaraj