This past weekend, the University of Rhode Island’s women’s tennis team took on Providence College and Quinnipiac University.
URI was victorious against Providence, winning the match 7-0, before earning a win on Sunday over Quinnipiac by a score of 4-3.
In their 7-0 win over the Friars on Friday, the Rams took five out of the six single match points in two sets. Fifth-year Nadia Rajan, fourth-year Valentina Cvackoval and second-year Priyanka Shanker all won their match in straight sets by scores of 6-0 and 6-2, bringing home three points total for URI in the process.
The other three singles points that the Rams secured came from second-year Sophie Herrman, first-year Blake Rothchild and second-year Nikki Fernando. Fernando also had a 2-0 victory, winning her sets with scores of 6-1 and 6-4.
Herrman dropped her first set 6-1 but then won her next two by scores of 6-0 to get a 2-1 victory. Rothchild earned her first collegiate win on Friday with a 2-0 win in her singles match; she won the first set by a score of 6-1 and the second one 6-2.
“We’re very proud of her,” URI Head Coach Brobeck said. “She’s a phenomenal person and teammate and practices hard everyday. She has all the values that are important in our program and I’m very proud of her for stepping up there and she did a great job in number six singles.”
Rhode Island grabbed the last point in their sweep of the Friars in doubles play. Cvackoval and Herrman earned a 6-1 win in their doubles match. Fernando and Rajan also won their doubles match 6-2 to secure the final point in the 7-0 Rhode Island win.
Doubles also played a key part in the Rams’ match Sunday against Quinnipiac, where the doubles point ended up being the difference-maker, as they won 4-3. Rhode Island won two out of the three doubles matches and was able to secure the point. Herrman and Cvackoval won their doubles match 6-4, along with Fernando and Rajan, who won their match by the same score. Shanker and third-year Klara Nelander dropped their match also by a score of 6-4.
“In a 50/50 match the doubles point is unbelievably important and against Quinnipiac that’s what it was and we came out on top 4-3 so that was huge,” Brobeck said. “Winning or losing the doubles point is about playing the right way, that energy that we create just helps transition into singles. It really does start with doubles; it just sets the tone for singles.”
The Atlantic 10 women’s tennis player of the week, Herrman, also stayed in the win column in singles on Sunday. After falling 6-1 in the first set, Herrman bounced back with a pair of 6-4 wins to earn the 2-1 victory.
“My opponent, I want to give her a lot of credit,” Herrman said. “She came out really strong, not missing a lot of balls, hitting a lot of great shots, Playing and competing well.”
Herrman talked about how close these matches can be and the difference between winning and losing.
“It’s a 2% difference between winning and losing,” Herrman said. “She was looking great and was taking advantage of those big points. She played a really great first set. I think in the second set I did a better job shifting the energy and changing the dynamic a little bit and things started to flow from there but it was definitely hard to work back into the set.”
Klara Nelander and Nikki Fernando were also winners on Sunday as Klara earned a three set win, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Fernando earned her win in two sets with scores of 7-5 and 6-2. Shanker fell in three sets 3-6, 7-6 (7) 7-6 (8). Rajan also lost in three sets 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, and Cvackoval came up short in 2 sets 7-6 (2) 7-6 (5).
The Rams now have a 4-2 record on the season and are currently riding a three-game win streak, going all the way back to their 7-0 win over Stonehill on Sunday, Feb. 11. Rhody will look to extend the win streak to four games when they face off against Colgate at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday at 4:30 p.m..