The tennis team’s three-game winning streak came to an end this past weekend after their weekend loss to Stony Brook. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
In a battle that went down to the final singles match, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Tennis team fell 4-3 to Stony Brook University this past weekend at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.
“We knew they were going to go out there and contest us,” Head Coach Val Villucci said following the match. “Our team is constantly challenged, but we proved we have the ability to compete against some of the tougher teams in our schedule.”
The Rams proved they were a top contender Friday as they kept Stony Brook at bay, battling back and forth throughout both doubles and singles play.
Opening in doubles play, Stony Brook secured the win over Rhody’s first doubles team of Valentina Cvackova and Klara Nelander 7-6. However, the second doubles team of Erin and Sydney Chratian and the third doubles team of Nadia Rajan and Paulina Loredo scored a pair of 7-5 wins to secure the first match point for the Rams.
With the early lead, the matchup came down to the six required matches in singles play, each worth one team victory.
Stony Brook won first singles to even the score at 1-1. In second singles, junior Nadia Rajan continued her stellar season, shutting down SBU’s Loreto Rubio with a 6-4, 6-4 victory, giving URI the 2-1 lead.
“It felt really great to go out there and win the match point for my team,” Rajan said. “My opponent [Rubio] was the first competitor I ever faced as a freshman and I lost. So I was determined this time around.”
With this victory, Rajan was the only athlete from Rhode Island to win both her singles and doubles matches on the day.
Stony Brook would not falter, winning both the third and fourth singles matchups, moving ahead of the Rams 3-2. In fifth singles, sophomore Klara Nelander secured the victory over SBU’s Sara Medved 6-4, 7-5 to tie the match score up at 3-3.
In the final singles matchup of the day, senior Sydney Chratian faced SBU’s Carmen Rubio in a back and forth three match thriller before Rubio ultimately came away with the win 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and secured the victory for Stony Brook.
Despite the defeat, Chratian noted that it was her teammate’s positivity that kept her spirits high.
“I knew the team was depending on me, so I decided to focus on the ball and play my best game,” Chratian said. “I was disappointed when I lost, but the way they all came to support me made me realize that the sport is more than just an individual game. It made it okay, you know?”
Following this weekend’s contest, the team is looking towards this Friday where they will head to Providence to face Brown University in an in-state rivalry match at 4 p.m. The Rams previously bested Brown in a preseason doubles tournament in the fall and are looking to bounce back following this weekend’s defeat.