The Boston University women’s tennis team opened 2006 play in impressive fashion this past weekend with two decisive victories.
The defending America East champions – for the 12th consecutive year – began the season on Friday afternoon with a 7-0 sweep of the University of Montreal and followed it up with a 7-0 shutout of Army on Saturday, both at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.
Lesley Sheehan, entering her 21st year as the team’s head coach, was happy with the team’s performance in its Friday season opener.
“We didn’t know what to expect from Montreal,” Sheehan said, “but I knew we had a good chance because we have a lot of depth.”
And the Terriers showed off that depth against the Canadian squad.
The Terriers won all four doubles matches, including an 8-2 victory in the No. 1 spot posted by senior captain Monica Shepherd and sophomore Gina Sabatino. BU also got an 8-1 win at the second slot by freshmen Danielle Abraham and Cori Lefkowith and an 8-2 victory in the third match-up from sophomore Katarina Draganova and senior Aimee Charest.
The Terriers also swept all six singles matches, highlighted by Erin Katims’s impressive 6-1, 6-0 victory in the top singles slot. Sabatino won her match at the two spot, 6-2, 6-1, followed by impressive 6-0, 6-0 wins by Lefkowith, Abraham and freshman Yana Sadovskaya at No. 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Draganova rounded things out at the sixth spot, winning by a score of 6-1, 6-1.
The following day, the Terriers matched their Friday feat and made it two wins on the year, churning out a powerful performance to blank Army.
“Army played us tough last year,” Sheehan said of BU’s 5-2 victory in 2005. “So I was pleased with how well we played.”
Shepherd and Sabatino once again posted a victory in the top doubles spot, 8-3. This time Sabatino also played the No. 1 singles match, winning convincingly, 6-0, 6-1.
Abraham and Lefkowith emerged as 8-3 victors in the second doubles spot, and Katmis and Sadovskaya won the No. 3 match by the same score. Katims also posted a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the singles No. 2 spot.
Lefkowith won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles and Abraham won 6-2, 6-1 in the fourth spot. Sadovskaya took the fifth match, 6-2, 6-0, as Shepherd cruised to a two-set, shutout win, 6-0, 6-0 in the sixth slot.
After the matches, Sheehan had much to be happy about. She was especially pleased with the success of her doubles teams.
“[Before the season] our singles lineup was under control,” she said. “But doubles wasn’t exactly where I wanted it.”
Regardless, the doubles teams combined for eight wins by a score of 64-15.
But the singles matches were where BU truly stood out, winning all 12 of them by a combined 144-19.
“Gina and Erin really took control of their matches,” Sheehan said. “They really played great.”
But the coach was careful to also give credit to senior captain and doubles mainstay Shepherd, who won both No. 1 doubles matches in addition to her 6-0, 6-0 sweep on Saturday in singles.
“She was our captain last year too,” Sheehan said. “She really gets the team focused, which is hard because tennis is an individual sport. She also does a great job of getting the team together for something like dinner or breakfast before a match. She’s also grown into a great doubles player. She’s a great captain.”
The team accomplished this all without senior Laura Ahmes, who usually plays both singles and doubles for the Terriers and was unable to play during the weekend.
And Sheehan knows that being only two games into the season, there is nothing to celebrate about. The Terriers will face much tougher opposition this season, including a No. 18 Harvard University team that BU is scheduled to take on this weekend.
“I told the team that Harvard is a different team than Montreal or Army,” Sheehan said. “They were ranked in the top 16 at times last year. We have to expect to have a lot more balls hit back at us. We’re also going to have to be more patient.”