The University of Rhode Island women’s tennis team was swept 7-0 by in-state rival Brown University on Saturday afternoon, its second consecutive loss.
Following their 5-2 loss to New Jersey Institute of Technology on Feb. 21, Rhody played in Providence against the 8-3 Bears. The Rams were the fifth team the Brown Bears have swept so far this season.
As of Feb. 19, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association had Brown at 49th in its national rankings. With the loss, URI dropped to 4-3 on the season with conference play still over a month away.
“Brown is always a really good team, so we circle that match on the schedule every year,” URI Head Coach Jonas Brobeck said. “They have a very good team this year and have played really well. So it’s good for us to get those tough, tough matches.”
It was nearly a sweep of straight-set wins in singles play for the Brown Bears, but second-year Grace Darcy won her second set to force a third.
Brown had already won the match when Darcy and her opponent, third-year Anne Yang, began their third set, so they engaged in a 10-point tiebreaker. Ultimately, Yang prevailed in a final score of 6-3, 4-6, 10-1.
“ I thought even in the first set, she did a lot of good stuff,” Brobeck said. “So even though she lost her first set, I think she was pretty aware of what she needed to do and change, and she played a great second set.”
Doubles play saw fourth-year Nikki Fernando and first-year Kajsa Helgesen take on Brown’s duo of third-year Dani Ben-Abraham and third-year Hannah Shen in the No. 1 spot.
It was the closest doubles match of the day for the Rams, as ultimately Brown pulled away in a tie-breaking 7-6 win.
“We were aggressive and able to neutralize when they played aggressively on us and took over small margins,” Brobeck said. “That was absolutely a positive takeaway from this match, even though we didn’t win. And then in No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, we just didn’t really get going. We were kind of reactive instead of proactive.”
Ben-Abraham did not play with her partner of 11 doubles matches, first-year Abigail Lee. The duo of Ben-Abraham and Lee ranks 89th in the ITA doubles rankings. Instead, Lee played with first-year Chloe Qin in the No. 2 doubles spot against Darcy and second-year Anastasia Pettersson.
Both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles ended 6-2 in favor of Brown. Fourth-year Sophie Herrman played with fourth-year Ava Grnja in the third spot against Yang and second-year Ali Maguy.
“Tennis is a tricky sport because every match you’re going to play someone that plays a different style,” Brobeck said. “But if we focus so much on the opponent, what the opponent does, sometimes we put too much energy and effort into things that we cannot control, instead of things that we can control. We still just have to continue to develop and get better.”
Following the loss, the Rams will return as the home team at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, taking on Le Moyne College on Saturday night and Siena University on Sunday night.
