The University of Rhode Island women’s tennis team concluded its regular season with a road loss to Fordham University on Saturday afternoon.
Completing their fifth sweep of Atlantic 10 Conference opponents so far this season. Fordham, which earned the No. 1 seed in the A-10 Tournament, improved to 8-0 on its home court.
Rhody finished its conference schedule 1-4 and was seeded sixth in the A-10 Tournament.
Saturday’s match began with the doubles point, where the pair of fourth-year Sophie Herrman and third-year Steph Hylton won their match at the No. 3 spot 6-3. This was Hylton’s first doubles match of the season.
“They understood what they needed to do in order to be successful, and they went out there and believed in themselves, played freely, smart and simple,” URI head coach Jonas Brobeck said. “For the team to see that as well, that someone can come off the bench, believe in themselves like that, go out and compete and lay it out on the line, it led to a great performance.”
With the win, Herrman moved into a tie for fifth place in the program with her 57th career doubles win, even with Valerie Chacon ’09 and Kristen Leikem ’12.
Fourth-year Nikki Fernando and first-year Kajsa Helgesen fell 6-0 at No. 1 doubles, while the duo of second-years Grace Darcy and Anastasia Pettersson came up just short with a 7-5 loss.
Up 1-0 heading into singles play, Fordham clinched the victory with wins at the No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 spots.
“ If we can play up to our potential on three doubles and six singles, we can knock off some great teams this tournament,” Brobeck said. “I know the girls believe it, and we talked about it after the match, so we need to do it. Everyone has played well at some point, but we have to bring it together.”
Darcy, Fernando and Helgesen’s matches did not finish, but they were all contested tightly. Fernando’s match at No. 2 was the only match to go three sets, engaging in a 6-2, 1-6, 3-3 battle with second-year Paola Dalmonico.
Darcy’s No. 1 spot match was against reigning A-10 Most Outstanding Player, fourth-year Nevena Kolarevic, and the score sat at 7-6 (2), 4-1.
“ Grace can feel like she’s that close to winning the first set against a really good player like that, which should give her confidence that she’s able to compete and beat anyone,” Brobeck said.
Rhody’s first round opponent is No. 11 seed George Mason University, which went 0-4 in regular season conference play. Of the four matches, the Patriots only earned one point.
“ We just have to leave it out there and have no regrets,” Brobeck said. “That is my only goal down there, that we’re going to have a lot of fun as a group that we’re going to continue to build, connect. One more hurrah, one more fight. And, if we can leave it out there with no regrets, I think the Rams can play on Saturday.”
Rhody will travel to the United States Tennis Association Campus in Lake Nona, Fla., where their opening match will take place on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Each match will be available for streaming on the A-10 website.
