Both the Boston University men’s and women’s tennis teams are currently tied for first place in the Patriot League and are looking to secure a birth in their respective Patriot League Tournaments.
Each side will face Lehigh University and the United States Military Academy before postseason play gets underway at the end of April. These matches will be pivotal in determining seeds for the conference tournament, as Army is tied with BU atop the Patriot League standings on the men’s and women’s sides, and Lehigh is not far behind.
The women’s team has been led by decorated seniors Johanna Hyoty and Lauren Davis, with the help of freshman Remi Ramos. Meanwhile, senior Stefan Lemire and freshman Satyajit Simhadri have produced clutch performances in recent matchups for the male Terriers.
After two of their matches at Bryant University were canceled over the weekend, the men’s team will return to action on Wednesday when its members travel to Medford to take on Tufts University. Then, the women’s team will play Army in West Point, New York for sole possession of the top spot in the Patriot League standings on Saturday.
Track and field compete at Texas Relays, take home Patriot League honors
The men’s and women’s track and field teams both competed in the Texas Relays this past Saturday.
Junior David Oluwadara recorded a personal-best 16.01 meter in the triple jump in Texas — the fourth-best leap in the NCAA East region this year and fifth best in the country. The Boston native’s performance was good enough to earn him a Patriot League Field Athlete of the Week nod.
BU track and field director Robyne Johnson said she was pleased with Oluwadara’s performance and expects big things from him going forward.
In the women’s 400-meter hurdles, junior Toria Levy ran a personal best of 57.77 seconds in the preliminaries, which Johnson said was “the fourth-fastest time ever run at BU and maybe the fourth-fastest time in our region and top 10 in the country thus far.”
Levy was unable to run in the finals because of bad weather conditions.
“The weather wasn’t great for us on the one day we had a majority of our people going, so we had to pull them out of some of the races,” Johnson said. She also added that the rain delays were so long and cold that BU became concerned with preventing injuries.
Levy was named Patriot League Female Track Athlete of the Week following her impressive run. However, she wasn’t the only Terrier to take home the honor. Freshman Lovie Burleson received the same designation after finishing fourth in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump.
The women’s team was picked to win the Patriot League Outdoor title this spring, while the men’s team was picked to finish third. Despite those lofty expectations, Johnson insisted the polls aren’t going to get to blur BU’s approach.
“I caution my team always — you still have to compete no matter what the polls say, regardless of where they put you,” Johnson said. “You still have to get out there and compete and do the work and get it done. That’s why we work so hard in practice and keep moving forward day after day to try to be the best and keep striving for excellence.”
Johnson also said that BU’s expectations for the season go beyond the conference standings.
“We’re looking for a conference championship, regional qualifiers and ultimately to have people qualify for the NCAAs and even past that to the Olympic Trials,” Johnson said.
