Playing in biting wind and 40-degree temperatures, the Boston University women’s tennis team dropped a 4-3 match to Boston College in its first home outdoor competition of the spring Tuesday afternoon.
In their penultimate regular-season match, the No. 68 Terriers (10-5, 1-0 America East) lost each of the first four slots of singles play to visiting BC (5-14, 0-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) on Harvard University’s home court.
“I can’t really call our match an upset, although we were in the rankings,” said BU coach Lesley Sheehan. “To play against BC, it’s really hard to call it an upset.”
The Eagles entered the contest having lost nine straight matches.
“BC is a tough team,” Sheehan said. “Although we were ranked ahead of them, they play a tough schedule – they play the ACC schedule. They have some losses because of that.”
BU’s top pairing of senior Erin Katims and freshman Francine Whu earned a 9-7 win against BC sophomores Lauren Cash and Dasha Cherkasov. The Terriers fell in second doubles, as sophomores Lana Krasnopolsky and Aline Sullivan defeated junior Katie Draganova and freshman Liz Corrao, 8-6. But sophomore Yana Sadovskaya and freshman Rebecca Row clinched the doubles point for BU with an 8-6 victory over junior Gia Nafarrete and freshman Brittany Delaney.
“We really concentrate on winning the doubles point so there’s not as much pressure going into the singles,” Sheehan said. “So that was big for us. Our number-one team beat BC’s number one team, and that was good.”
Despite a strong doubles showing, BU’s downfall came in singles play. Katims fell in straight sets to Krasnopolsky, 6-3, 6-1, dropping to 7-8 in singles matches this spring. Sadovskaya, in the second slot, also lost in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5. The drought continued in the third slot, with Row’s straight-set loss to Cash, 6-3, 6-4.
BU picked up two points from the fifth and sixth slots, collecting wins from sophomore Cori Lefkowith and Corrao. Lefkowith improved her singles record to 13-1 with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory against fellow sophomore Sarah Svoboda. Corrao earned her third singles win in her last four matches with a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory against Nafarrete.
For Carrao, the win was particularly sweet for another reason – BC turned her down after she showed interest in playing for the Eagles as a high school senior.
“I think [winning] was something she was really happy with,” Sheehan said.
With the overall score tied at three, Whu battled Sullivan in a close match in the fourth slot. But Sullivan defeated Whu, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3), clinching BC’s first win in its last ten matches.
“I knew it was gonna be a battle,” Sheehan said. “Last year, we lost 4-3. This year, it came down to the last match. It was 3-3 with Francine, who was the last match on and she lost 7-6. That’s our typical BU-BC match.
“I knew all the way down, one through six, would be tough,” she added. “I feel like it’s like a basketball game that at buzzer someone shoots, and with one second left, gets it in the [basket]. I really felt that that’s the way it was.”
The match was played at Harvard because BU’s three outdoor courts were in too poor condition. The Terriers are scheduled to return to the Track and Tennis Center on Saturday, when they host Quinnipiac University in their final regular season match of the spring.