The University of Rhode Island women’s tennis team dropped its regular season finale at the URI Tennis Complex on Saturday against the University of Massachusetts, celebrating the lone fourth-year Klara Nelander on senior day.
Although the Rams were bested 4-2, the Minutewomen are seeded No. 2 in the upcoming Atlantic 10 Conference Championship, a higher seeding than the No. 4 Rams. UMass improved to 4-0 in conference play, while URI fell to 3-2.
Nelander, who finished her season with a 14-5 singles record and 12-7 doubles record with third-year Sophie Herrman, was honored before the match.
“It was honestly kind of sad because I love this team, and it made me realize that I’m actually leaving,” Nelander said. “I came in on my own, and that was kind of tough my freshman year. But after that, I’ve never really thought about the fact that I’m the only one in my year. I was basically crying the whole ceremony. I appreciate all of [my teammates] so much, and it’s so sad that I’m leaving.”
The match’s doubles point was highly competitive, but ultimately, the Minutewomen’s No. 2 and No. 3 spots each earned 7-5 victories to take the point. Third-year Nikki Fernando and first-year Katharina Spieth earned a 7-6 (3) win for URI in the No. 1 spot.
“Unfortunately [the point] didn’t go our way, but we still felt like we played pretty well,” URI Head Coach Jonas Brobeck said. “We really talk about setting the tone right [away] and playing on our terms. And I feel like we did, because you can do everything the right way in tennis, and the result might still not go your way.”
Despite URI earning two points with singles wins from Spieth and Fernando at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots, respectively, the Minutewomen got wins at the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 spots to round up the win.
First-year Grace Darcy took the first set of her matchup against second-year Amelia Tye at the No. 4 spot, but was taken down in the following sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. First-year Anastasia Pettersson’s match at the No. 5 spot did not finish due to the Minutewomen having already clinched the win, but was in the middle of its third set at 5-7, 6-4, 3-2.
Nelander was set to take on third-year Trinity Calinescu in the final singles spot, but pulled out of the match due to hamstring discomfort. In her place, second-year Steph Hylton competed and fell 6-4, 6-3.
“I think we still performed pretty well,” Nelander said. “I think it was a good and very competitive match. We had a lot of chances, and it was super close. If we play them again [at the conference championship], we’re so ready.”
URI competed against another top A-10 team, Fordham University, on April 12, falling 4-0. The opposing Rams were confirmed as the conference’s No. 1 seed heading into the tournament.
“Honestly, I don’t think we’ve ever been this prepared,” Nelander said. “We’ve had a really good season, and I think it was good that we played the two best teams in the conference. We had really competitive matches against them, so basically going in there with those two matches, it’s just going to prepare us for any other team we’re going to play.”
URI is set to face No. 13 St. Bonaventure University in the opening round of the tournament, a rematch of last year’s first-round matchup, on Thursday, April 24 at 9 a.m., which will be available to watch on the United States Tennis Association Streams.
