The Boston University women’s tennis team suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Boston College in the final game of its nine-game road trip Tuesday at the Flynn Recreation Complex. The loss dropped the Terriers to 13-6 on the season.
The Terriers got off to a rough start when the top-seeded pair of senior Monica Shepherd and sophomore Gina Sabatino lost in the opening doubles match. The second-seeded duo of junior Erin Katims and senior Laura Ahmes took the set against the Eagles to even the doubles score. The deciding point was left up to the freshman pairing of Cori Lefkowith and Danielle Abraham, who lost to give the Eagles the early 1-0 advantage.
The Terriers continued to dig themselves a hole in singles play when No. 1 Sabatino fell short and No. 3 Ahmes also lost her match.
But the young Terriers did not quit. The bottom three seeds – all freshmen — earned victories to put pressure on the Eagles. No. 4 seed rookie Yana Sadovskaya, who recently returned from illness, played well and defeated her BC counterpart convincingly. Lefkowith followed with a victory of her own at the No. 5 seed and Danielle Abraham finished the day with a victory at the No. 6 seed.
The score was knotted at 3-3 and came down to the final singles match of the day with No. 2 Katims representing the Terriers. It was a close match, with both players showing equal skill and determination. The match came down to the final set when Katims was narrowly defeated to give the Eagles the 4-3 win on the day.
“Erin played well and kept battling,” said BU coach Lesley Sheehan. “The match was going back and forth the whole time. Unfortunately for Erin, her opponent just hit the right shots at the right time. I thought she gave a great effort.”
It was a tough loss for the road-weary Terriers.
“Just a heartbreaker,” Sheehan said. “Both teams had to fight hard all day to get the points.”
The match was not only a battle between two schools of equal caliber, but between two rival programs who clearly despise each other. Throughout the day, BC showed a minimal amount of sportsmanship toward its Commonwealth Avenue counterparts.
“I was proud of the way our girls handled themselves today,” Sheehan said. “There was a lot of name calling and trash talking going on from their players, things like that, but our team played with a lot of class. Our girls kept their cool and showed a lot of poise and character. My team played with a lot of heart today.”
Despite the tough loss there were some positive notes coming from the Terriers, especially the continued strong play of freshmen Lefkowith, Sadovskaya and Abraham — who continue to provide the team with critical points from the bottom seeds – and are steady contributors to the team.
Another positive note was the return of Yana Sadovskaya, who won her match and showed little rust despite recovering from an illness that kept her out of the Quinnipiac match over the weekend.
“I think it was best that we put her on the bench the other day,” Sheehan said. “We didn’t want her to get exhausted. She was clearly well rested and recovered today.”
The last positive note for the team, and probably the most important one, is that BU’s brutal road trip, which featured nine matches over the course of nearly two months, is over.
“It feels great,” Sheehan said. “I wish we could have finished it off on a better note, but I think we are all greatly relieved to have a home match.”
The Terriers will play UMass-Amherst Tuesday, April 18 at the Track and Tennis Center. It will be the last regular-season match before the America East Championships, a tournament the Terriers have won each of the last 12 years.
