Rams stopped their recent losing streak with a win against Saint Joseph’s. PHOTO CREDIT: gohody.com
Patience paid off this weekend for the University of Rhode Island tennis team.
After falling 4-0 to the Richmond Spiders on Saturday, the Rams closed out a two-game road trip with a 4-0 win of their own against Saint Joseph’s — their first Atlantic 10 victory of the season.
It took more than four and a half hours for Sunday’s contest to be completed as a result of inclement weather that led to three separate rain delays.
While having play interrupted by the rain is fairly common in tennis, Head Coach Val Villucci believes that it can create challenges when it comes to remaining focused.
“Rain delays aren’t unusual in tennis, but it is difficult to keep your rhythm with every disruption,” Villucci said.
Saturday’s contest proved to be another tough one for the Rams against a Spiders team that had won the last four matches in their head-to-head series. Rhody’s best effort came from junior Nadia Rajan at first singles. In the only match to reach three sets, Rajan fell 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 against three-time All-Atlantic 10 First Team selection Emily Dunbar.
The Rams dropped the remaining five completed matches of the afternoon, but kept it close in the ones that went unfinished. Klara Nelander led 3-2 in the first set of her match at fifth singles, while Sydney Chratian trailed by that same score at sixth singles. At third doubles, the pair of Rajan and Paulina Loredo led 3-2 before play was interrupted by the weather.
Despite Saturday’s sweep, Villucci said her team has been very competitive throughout the season, even in their losses.
“Our losses have been very competitive and almost wins for us,” she said. “It is a fine line between the wins and the losses, and we have not been as fortunate as we would have liked to have been.”
Looking to snap their seven-match losing streak, Rhody took on Saint Joseph’s on Sunday in their second match in as many days. The structure of the match was adjusted due to the rain, with no doubles matches being played and singles play only continuing until there was a final team result.
According to Villucci, the weather itself acted as “another opponent” throughout the match, in addition to their scheduled opponent in the Hawks.
“We just [kept] trying to manage it the best we can and not use it as excuses,” she said.
The deciding match for the Rams was at third singles, where graduate student Tiara Higuchi clinched the win on a tiebreaker 6-3, 7-6 (5). URI also got complete wins from Erin Chratian at second singles (6-3, 6-4), Loredo at fourth singles (6-1, 6-2), and Sydney Chratian at the sixth position (6-2, 6-4).
Even in challenging circumstances, Villucci said Higuchi had “the heart of a champion” in her effort, which eventually ended with a victory.
“She never stops fighting and attempts to use other ways to win,” Villucci said. “The match against St. Joe’s was definitely not one of Tiara’s finest or best played matches, but she found a way.”
Rhody and St. Joe’s were even in both of their unfinished matches, with Nelander up 7-6 (2), 3-4 at fifth singles while Rajan trailed 7-5, 5-2 at the top spot.
The Rams are now in the midst of a five-match home stand, which Villucci believes will help her team establish some stability in their next set of matchups.
“There’s nothing better than home matches,” she said. “There’s the comfort, the support of friends, family, and staff and the familiarity of how the court plays.”
The first of these five matches — a 4-0 victory over in-state rival Bryant on Tuesday — was the Rams’ second-straight shutout win and moves the team to 8-9 on the season. They’ll next face George Washington at the URI Tennis Complex on Saturday at 1 p.m.