The University of Rhode Island tennis team competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I New England Regional Championships over the weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with three athletes advancing to the round of 64 in singles play.
The tournament, hosted at Harvard University, featured 118 competitors from 32 different schools. Rhody had four athletes competing: third-year Nikki Fernando, first-year Katharina Spieth, third-year Sophie Herrman and fourth-year Klara Nelander.
“I felt very honored to be chosen to represent URI, and I think the regional crowd is the best of the best,” Fernando said. “I was more excited than nervous to be playing the best people out there.”
Thursday was the start of singles play, beginning with the qualifying round. While Nelander fell to Elizabeth Fahrmeier of Dartmouth College in a 6-4, 6-4 match, Fernando and Spieth defeated their opponents to advance to the round of 64.
The match between Spieth and Amelia Tye from University of Massachusetts Amherst went to three sets. The first set was taken by Spieth, 6-4, and the second by Tye, 6-3, before Spieth took control of the match to earn a deciding 6-1 third-set victory. Fernando, while feeling under the weather, handily took a two-set win against Cornell University’s Andrea Martinez that ended in a 6-4, 6-1 score.
“I think the biggest thing is having the mindset that you’re never going to give up and to stay strong,” Fernando said. “I’m going to look past everything and play my best. You have to look at the bigger picture.”
Fernando’s second matchup of the day resulted in a similar score as her first, defeating University of Connecticut’s Cameron Didion 6-3, 6-2.
After taking the first set 6-2, Spieth and Boston University’s Yimei Emily Zhao engaged in a 7-5 second set that tied the match for Zhao before Spieth once again concluded the match in a 6-1 set.
“It was a great job, they beat two good players each from a quality team,” URI Head Coach Jonas Brobeck said. “When it comes to these fall events, one of the most important aspects is to see an improvement each day.”
Although Herrman, who had a bye into the opening round, Fernando and Spieth lost in their individual singles matches, both doubles matches earned wins in the round of 64 on Friday.
“On Friday if you just look at the score it doesn’t look that it was that close, but we learned from it and we got better from it,” Brobeck said.
Nelander and Herrman took down Siena College’s duo, Zaara Omar and Reegan Mullaney, in an 8-4 victory. Fernando and Spieth defeated Dartmouth’s Sam Grosjean and Lauren Han in similar fashion, taking the match 8-5.
“It was such a joy to play with Katha,” Fernando said. “We’ve grown pretty close on the team and I think we compliment each other so well. I really enjoy playing up at the net and she holds it down with her ground strokes in the back.”
The duo was eliminated in the round of 32 on Saturday by Syracuse University’s Serafima Shastova and Constance Levivier in an 8-5 contest.
“Nikki and Katerina pushed a really good Syracuse team, they did great,” Brobeck said. “We can’t just look straight at the results. There’s a lot of positives to build from.”
Nelander and Herrman also lost their matchup to Bryant University’s duo of Caitlyn Munson and Natalia Vela, 8-1.
The only Rhody win on the day was Herrman in her consolation singles round match against Addie Eklund from Colgate University, claiming the 6-3, 6-2 two-set win.
Next up, the Rams will return to the Ocean State to compete in the Brown Classic next weekend in Providence beginning on Friday, facing Brown University.