Women's tennis ended a regular season 13-game winning streak on Sunday when they lost 5-4 against Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
The loss gives them a 10-1 record after beating University of Mary Washington (UMW) on Saturday 5-4. CMU improved to 9-2 on the season, while UMW's record now stands at 3-5. "The loss to Carnegie Mellon is going to make it a little tougher to get into regionals now," sophomore Karen Shih said. "We knew it was going to be a tight match, so it was probably more of a disappointment since we beat them last year and we definitely could have beaten them again."
The Lions began the day by taking two of the three doubles matches but were unable to maintain their lead by receiving only two of the six singles points. Senior Katie D'Amato and junior captain Jackie Gavornik took fourth and fifth singles victories for the day.
CMU came into the match on a six-match win streak. Shih, who helped the Lions by working with sophomore Ayumi Yamazaki at third doubles to beat senior Kavita Shah and sophomore Asaka Hayashi, 8-6, is focused on improving as the season continues.
"We did well, but we just need to adjust to playing outdoors," Shih said. "This weekend was our first match outside so it was completely different."
Sophomore Kristen Turturiello and D'Amato forced the second doubles win against CMU's junior Alison Liu and senior Christina Weng 8-4.
"It was a tough loss because they were ranked number 15 in the country and we went in as underdogs and actually played a really good match," head coach Scott Dicheck said. "We just came up a little short, but if we continue to improve as we have been doing, then we'll be fine for the rest of the year."
In the match against UMW, Yamazaki and Shih pulled the only doubles win of the day defeating sophomores Emily Brimer and Bethany O'Connor 8-6. They also won two of the four singles victories for the College at third and sixth singles.
Freshman Christina Contrafatto posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory over junior Gayle Smith in first singles and Turturiello defeated senior Eve Helmer 6-3, 6-3 in second singles play.
Men's tennis continued their own win streak this past weekend, defeating CMU, the No. 23 ranked team in Division III. CMU fell to 7-3 on the year. The Lions collected the 6-1 win and then returned to the courts the next day to shut out Salisbury University 6-0.
The wins put the Lions at 5-1 on the season with a five-game winning streak and a promising outlook on the rest of the year.
"We have to beat the University of Rochester, Bates College and Wheaton College and I think we can beat any one of them," freshman Donald Pollosco said. "It won't be easy, but we're definitely good enough."
Sophomore co-captain Ryan Carty and sophomore Corey Ball began the weekend with a first doubles win defeating freshman Ryan Laws and junior Carl Yang of CMU 8-0. Freshmen Eric Ferriere and Mike Klimchak then fought against freshmen Andrew Clearfield and Stephen Kuhn to receive the doubles point for the Lions, beating them 8-6. The Lions then went 5-1 in singles play.
"I knew it would be a close match but the guys performed just like they have all season," Dicheck said. "When it gets close, the guys just find a way to win and I'm surprised they won as big as they did."
The momentum in singles play returned with the team the next day to defeat Salisbury 6-0. No doubles matches were played against the Sea Gulls due to time constraints.
The men's next match is away on March 24 versus Haverford College and the women's next match will be held at home on March 26 against Drew University. Men's tennis will also be home on March 26 against New York University.
