The University of Rhode Island women’s tennis team traveled to Louisiana for three matches before starting conference play, sweeping its opponents Northwestern State University, the University of New Orleans and Nicholls State University in the latter half of spring break.
Rhody was coming off of their second loss of the season against Brown University on March 2, where they fell 5-2. Despite the loss, URI Head Coach Jonas Brobeck was satisfied with the team’s performance.
“ When you lose doubles points and don’t play the way you want to play, you need to be able to reset, go out and compete hard, and I thought we did a great job of that against Brown,” Brobeck said. “We really got on top of them in singles, so that is the biggest takeaway from that match.”
After a 10-day break, the Rams packed up their bags and drove four hours to New Orleans, where they had three days worth of practicing outside before their first match.
URI’s first foe in NSU was a familiar one for Brobeck, as he served as the program’s head coach for three seasons, starting in 2020.
“Of course it’s satisfying, winning against my old team; we actually talked about that a little bit as a team,” Brobeck said.
Weather conditions were hot on March 12, with a high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit at 11 a.m., as Brobeck’s squad prepared to face off against the Lady Demons.
“ It was tough, but I think we all adjusted very quickly,” first-year Anastasia Pettersson said. “Before we left for Louisiana, we did a lot of indoor track workouts to get our physical training in because outdoor tennis is physically harder than indoors.”
Both doubles pairs fell in the beginning of the match, but the Rams bounced back in singles play, starting with first-year Katharina Spieth’s 6-4, 6-1 win in the No. 1 spot.
Pettersson clinched the match in the fifth spot by a score of 6-3, 6-1, followed by a forfeit win for fourth-year Klara Nelander due to the Lady Demons not having an available player.
Although they came away with the 4-2 win, the Rams’ priority heading into the second match of the trip on Thursday, March 13 against UNO became a better effort in doubles play, according to Brobeck.
While the third doubles pair of Nelander and third-year Sophie Herrman won their match by forfeit, Pettersson and her partner, first-year Grace Darcy, earned victory at the two spot, winning 6-1.
“ I thought we took that momentum from doubles and really set the tone on each singles court,” Brobeck said.
Third-year Nikki Fernando earned her 15th singles win of the season in the No. 3 spot in a 6-2, 6-0 victory. A nearly flawless 6-0, 6-1 win by Darcy sealed the deal for URI after yet another forfeit, coming away with a 4-0 team effort. Herrman and Pettersson were leading their respective matches when play was stopped due to Rhody already clinching the win.
For the third consecutive day, URI took to the court to take on Nicholls on Friday, once again taking home a 4-0 victory. The top doubles pair of Fernando and Spieth earned their first doubles win of the trip 6-4, followed by Darcy and Pettersson’s season-high 15th doubles win.
“ [Darcy and I] live together, so we know each other very well, which I think also goes onto the court pretty good because we know each other’s strengths,” Pettersson said. “We help each other on the court with our different play styles as well. She’s very good at the baseline; she has a great backhand, which helps me quite a lot so I can play more volleys and attack the ball more.”
Third-year Ava Grnja got in on the action with a singles win of 6-1, 6-4. Darcy and Pettersson added singles victories in straight sets to claim the team’s final win before conference play begins this weekend.
“ It’s exciting for us as freshmen to see what the conference teams are like since we haven’t played any of them,” Pettersson said. “So, it’s going to be interesting to see the level of play, and hopefully we can set the tone early for the season before the [A-10 Championship].”
The Rams will stay on the road as they head to Washington, D.C. to take on George Washington University on Saturday at 12:45 p.m.
