The Boston University women’s tennis team finished its fall season strong, with an impressive showing from the whole team at Dartmouth College’s Big Green Invitational over the weekend.
BU’s biggest success at the tournament came from its rising freshman star, Rebecca Row, who took home the B-Singles crown after defeating Dartmouth’s Elizabeth Warnack in the finals, 6-2, 6-1. Row coasted through her flight, sweeping the semifinal match and only losing three games in a set once in four matches.
“I thought my net game and attack game was strong,” Row said. “I also tried to keep pressure on my opponents throughout.”
Row’s performance excited Terrier coach Lesley Sheehan, who has been tracking the progress of the newcomer, and knows her presence can only contribute to the team’s performance.
“She has been a great addition to the team,” Sheehan said. “She can hit for power, she can hit for touch, and she moves very well. She won very handily and she’s going to be a great addition in the spring.”
In the A-Singles flight, BU sophomore Danielle Abraham reached the semifinals, outlasting teammates Erin Katims, Yana Sadovskaya and Cori Lefkowith. Abraham took out Stony Brook’s Sandy Wijeratne in the first round, 6-0, 6-1. She found herself matched up against Dartmouth’s singles player Mary Beth Winingham in the second round, where she won in a tie breaker, 5-7, 6-4 (10-2).
After breezing by Long Island University’s Ashley Harvey in the quarterfinals, Abraham finally fell to University of Cincinnati’s Hannah Hinton, 6-4, 3-6, (10-8) in the semifinals.
“I worked a lot on mental strategies this week and went well into the competition,” Abraham said. “Last week’s tournament was very disappointing, and we all wanted to prove something and make a statement.”
Rhode Island’s Laura Maurer and Cincinnati’s Hinton played in the A-Singles final, with Maurer taking the victory, 7-5, 6-2.
Though Katims and Sadovskaya were both unable to get past the second round, they both made the consolation A finals after beating Dartmouth sisters Mary Beth and Lindsay Winningham in the semifinals in each of their matches. The final between the two BU singles players was not played.
The Terriers also entered three teams in the doubles flight. The teams of Katims and Corrao, Row and Lefkowith and Abraham and Katie Draganova all made it to the quarterfinals before losing to their respective opponents.
The Katims-Corrao duo had the toughest road to the quarterfinals. They won their first round match against Dartmouth sophomores Jennifer and Danielle Murray, 8-5. The second round match against UMass-Amherst’s Masha Pozar and Michele Spiess also proved to be a nail-biter, with the Terriers pulling out the win, 9-7. They finally fell to Cincinatti’s Rachel Owens and Alizee Paradise, 8-5.
Lefkowith and Row lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual doubles champions, the Winingham sisters of Dartmouth.
Now that the fall season has ended, the women are now looking toward their spring season. Due to NCAA regulations, most of the preparation for the upcoming schedule will be done on an independent basis. But this past weekend’s strong performance has the Terriers thinking big.
“This year we lost three players to graduation and one to transfer,” Sheehan said. “We still have great depth with our young players, we have great doubles, and I expect to have a good spring season.”
The women’s team will resume its schedule Jan. 19, hosting the University of Montreal.