Women’s tennis loses opener to Chicago
Washington University’s women’s tennis team opened their season against their rival, 19th ranked University of Chicago on Saturday. Wash U fell 5-4 in a hard-fought battle that came down to the final match.
“It’s a tough match to start off every season with since [Chicago] are always strong competitors,” said junior captain Ania Tchergueiko. “When we play them later in this spring, I am sure it will reflect our team progress throughout the season.”
Wash. U. started off the match with an 8-0 doubles win by Sophomore Allison Dender and freshman Kristin Fleming at third doubles. The team dropped the other two doubles matches, allowing Chicago to go into singles play with a 2-1 lead.
First off of the singles matches was freshman Elise Sambol at #6 singles, who defeated her opponent 6-0, 6-2. Following Sambol’s win were freshmen Alex Cassady at #5 and Jaclyn Bild at #4 who beat their opponents with scores of 6-4, 6-1, and 6-3, 6-1, respectively. This put Wash. U. up 4-2.
Freshman Karina Kocemba at #3 singles and Dender at #2 singles both played tough matches but were edged out by their opponents in the end. With Wash. U. and Chicago tied at 4-4, junior Erin Swaller at #1 singles played a tight three set battle against Marissa Lin, the second-ranked player in the ITA central region, but was eventually defeated 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.
Nonetheless, the Wash. U. women’s tennis coach, Kelly Stahlhuth, is very optimistic about the rest of their season. “It was a great starting match. We just need to get a few more matches under our belt and become more match-tough,” said Stahlhuth.
The players are positive about future spring matches.
“Our lineup is very deep this year so I am confident that we will do well,” said Sambol.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Related Posts
Print This Post