The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened up Ivy League play this past weekend, as the women beat Columbia, 6-1, and lost to the Lions, 5-2.
“The nationally-ranked Big Red proved too much for the Lions,” the Columbia website accurately conceded.
[img_assist|nid=22429|title=Guiding hand|desc=Sophomore Elizabeth Googe smacks a forehand in the Red’s 6-1 win over Columbia last Saturday.|link=node|align=left|width=72|height=100]
The women’s tennis team earned a comfortable win against Columbia this weekend, with a score of 6-1. The team swept the doubles which set the pace for the remainder of the match. Doubles teams consisting of sophomore Liz Googe and freshman Susan Sullivan, senior captain Kasia Preneta and junior Dana Cruite, and sophomore Tamara John and sophomore Shayna Miller all defeated their opponents with scores of 8-7, 8-3, and 8-4, respectively. Senior captain Nisha Suda’s sister — Nina Suda — played for Columbia and prevented the Red from sweeping Columbia by defeating Tamara John in No. 3 singles.
“The team performed great,” said head coach Laura Glitz. “I thought our doubles play was especially good. The doubles teams have been a work in progress and I was pleased with the way we played.”
Glitz is optimisitic for the Ivy League season and attests that she scheduled some tough non-conference matches to better prepare the Red. The team suffered only two losses in the entire season, falling to the higher ranked Arizona State and Arizona.
The Red lost to Columbia last year, but Suda compliments Glitz for having thoroughly and successfully prepared the team for the competition this year. Suda explained the benefits of playing challenging teams during the non-conference season.
“We know we won’t experience teams of this level in the Northeast, so we won’t be intimidated by anyone in the Ivy League,” Suda said. “Laura wanted to give us a goal to strive towards, in terms of fitness, focus and style of game. She wanted to use the highly ranked teams as an example of what our program is striving for.”
Glitz explained the team’s goals and expressed her optimism for the Ivy League matches to come.
“One of our goals was to get on the national rankings and we did that a few weeks ago,” she said. “Our other goal is to have a winning Ivy season and that’s what we are working toward right now so this is a great start for us to beat Columbia. I think we are in a great position to take the next two matches against Harvard on Friday and Dartmouth on Saturday.”
Suda agreed, saying that the win sets the tone for the Ivy season.
“We know never to give up, and hopefully this 6-1 victory as our season opener will really set the precedence for the other Ivy schools that we are playing to win,” Suda said.
The men’s tennis team fell to Columbia in their Ivy League opener this weekend, 5-2. The match was a tight one. Columbia won the doubles point, but not without resistance. The first doubles team, senior captain Nick Brunner and senior Josh Raff, defeated their opponents, 8-5, and the Red also earned a victory at fifth doubles.
Things were even more nip-and tuck in singles play. Four of the six singles matches went into a third set. However, Columbia came away with four of the six singles points to secure the 5-2 win.