Over the weekend, the University of Rhode Island women’s tennis team hosted Boston University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
This marked Rhode Island’s second and third consecutive home matches to start the season at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in Newport, Rhode Island. The result – back to back losses for URI.
Following a 6-1 victory to start the season, the Rams’ second matchup of the year vs BU yielded quite the opposite outcome. URI would drop to 1-1, by a score of 7-0. A day later, URI would look to right the ship against NJIT, before once again falling short, this time by a score of 4-3.
In Saturday’s matchup vs BU, Rhode Island saw themselves drop all six singles matches, in six straight sets. URI would find a bit more success in doubles, where the pairing of fifth-year Nadia Rajan and second-year Nikki Fernando took down BU’s third-year Michelle Kleynerman and first-year Uma Bakaityte.
Sunday’s showdown with NJIT saw the two squads compete from wire to wire, before the match would ultimately result in URI’s second home loss in two days.
This time, URI and NJIT would split the singles matches 3-3. It was second-years Sophie Herman and Franando, along with Fourth-year Valentina Cvackova who emerged victorious in their singles sets.
Four of the six singles matches were decided in straight sets, with Herman and Cvackova delivering for URI. While Fernando’s singles victory came down to set three, where she emerged victorious by a score of 6-3.
On the other hand, URI would find themselves winless in doubles play, cementing their record at 1-2.
Despite the undesirable outcomes, URI Head Coach Jonas Brobeck’s state of mind remains fixed on the positive takeaways, and learning for the future.
“It’s so important that we, after matches… compartmentalize and talk about what we did well, what we need to improve, and what we need to do to be successful moving forward,” Brobeck said. “There was a lot of positives we can take from these two matches.”
Rhody fans have reason to remain positive as well, according to Brobeck, as their 6-1 victory vs Siena should be more indicative of what’s to come for this squad.
“We’ve been competing fantastic in all three matches,” Brobeck said. “When we keep buying into the culture and the process, the wins will start coming, and we were really close this Sunday to beating a team, a good team.”
Brobeck would go on to emphasize the importance of this team’s commitment to building a culture and staying true to the process.
“We’re super proud of them, how they’re committing to the process, how they’re believing,” Brobeck said. “Our energy has been impeccable, which is such a foundation of how we compete.”
Now, the Rams will have to turn their focus from a close loss on Sunday to next weekend as they look to get back to .500.
“Unfortunately against NJIT we fell short by a couple of points, you know, but we keep our heads up and we learn from it, and we go back to work,” Brobeck said. “We’re gonna get ready for Sunday against Stonehill.”
When URI faces Stonehill College next Sunday, Feb. 11, it will be their fourth consecutive home match to start the season.