The University of Rhode Island tennis team competed at the Brown Classic this past weekend, falling in all four matches.
URI’s first match, the only one to be played at their home courts, ended in a 4-3 loss against the University of Connecticut. Fifth-year Nadia Rajan, fourth-year Valentina Cvackova and second-year Nikki Fernando picked up the singles’ wins.
Despite losing their doubles match 6-1, Rajan and Fernando individually engaged in thrilling singles wins. Rajan defeated fourth-year Aleksandra Karamyshev 7-6 (6), 6-3, while Fernando defeated first-year Caroline Hinshaw 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Rajan was unable to train this whole summer, but the fifth-year has put in the work this fall.
“I’m really enjoying [the season] right now,” Rajan said. “One big thing for me this year is that I’ve enjoyed it a lot more than I usually have. Performance wise, I’ve done better than I expected.”
This newfound enjoyment from Rajan is something that she could attribute to new head coach Jonas Brobeck, who she said has “really brought the team together.”
Cvackova’s match was the only one of the three wins to go three sets, defeating third-year Maria Constantinou 2-6, 7-6 (4), 14-12.
Saturday saw the Rams face Boston University, who swept them 7-0.
While second-year Sophie Herrman and Cvackova put up a fight in their doubles match, ultimately falling 7-6 (1), the other three doubles matches only combined for two points against BU’s eighteen.
Two of the six singles matches went three sets, with Fernando’s ending in a score of 1-4, 4-2, 10-4 and first-year Steph Hylton’s going 0-4, 4-0, 10-8.
Sunday’s set of matches earned the Rams one point each, losing 6-1 against Villanova and 3-1 against a shorthanded University of Massachusetts team.
Throughout the Brown Classic, URI earned five singles wins and one doubles win.
“In singles I thought we did a good job of changing game plans and doing everything we can in our power to change the outcomes of matches and prolong our time on the court,” Brobeck said. “I feel like we still have a lot of work to do in doubles. [There are] some things we have to clean up in doubles in order for us to compete at the highest level and get to where we need to be at.”
Villanova’s matchup saw Rajan and Fernando earn the doubles match win by a score of 7-5 and Hylton defeat third-year Valieriia Kornieva in her singles match.
Having only three players available, UMass and URI played one doubles match and three singles matches. First-year Blake Rothchild got URI’s only win in a 4-2, 4-3 (4) victory against first-year Compassion Tsai.
Rajan and Fernando were the lone doubles duo to compete against UMass, falling by a score of 6-3. According to Rajan, their pairing is relatively new, but there are upsides to playing with each other.
“I just started playing with her this semester,” Rajan said. “Where I’m weaker on the tennis court, she’s stronger. We complement each other.”
Although Rajan also claims that the players are “very, very different people,” their team chemistry is “really good.”
While Brobeck has only been with URI since August, he can also see how the chemistry has impacted his team.
“Going to these tournaments in the fall was important because it enhanced the team culture and I thought we did a really good job of supporting each other, cheering each other on, and being energetic on and off the court,” Brobeck said. “It speaks volumes to what we stand for as a team and how the girls care so much about each other.”
Even though tournaments for the fall season have concluded, the team’s training will continue.
“The importance of tennis is that we are competing and practicing hard the whole year to develop and get better,” Brobeck said. “It’s super important now that we are working even more diligently in practice and that we’re pushing each other even further in the weight group so that we’re strong going into December and January.”
Following winter break, URI begins their spring season with a match against Siena on Jan. 28 2024 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.