UR men’s and women’s tennis teams attempted to step up their game against the Division I Colgate University Raiders on Sunday but lost each of their matches, 1-6 and 0-7, respectively, on the road at Colgate’s Sanford Fieldhouse. The UR men’s loss set their record 3-3 for the season and gave the Colgate men its first win of the season.This was the first loss of the 2007-08 season for the women, bringing their record to 4-1.
The men’s team won one of six singles matches and lost all three doubles matches. The only winning match for the men came at the No. 2 singles spot for UR. Freshman Ryan Kovaleski upended Colgate senior Tyler Deck, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 (3), prevailing in the tiebreaker to earn the win for the ‘Jackets. At No. 1 singles, sophomore Brian Bowman lost straight sets to Colgate junior Martin MacIntyre, 0-6, 1-6.
Freshman Bennett Peterson dropped his sets at No. 3 singles, 0-6, 2-6, falling to Raiders’ sophomore John Nogueras. At the No. 4 singles spot, freshman Patrick Sheehan was defeated by Colgate freshman Phil Bernasek, 4-6, 1-6. Freshman Daniel Barbash fell short at fifth singles, 3-6, 0-6, against undefeated Raiders’ sophomore Michael Yassky. Sophomore Adam Crosby capitulated to Colgate freshman Ruslan Goussiantnikov, 2-6, 0-6, at No. 6 singles.
Kovaleski and Bowman lost their No.1 doubles match, 2-8, to Deck and MacIntyre. Sheehan and Peterson were defeated by Nogueras and Yassky, 4-8, at No. 2 doubles. At No. 3 doubles, Barbash and Crosby were topped by Goussiantnikov and Bernasek, 2-8.
The women’s team was shut out by the Raiders. Senior Alexa Perry and freshman Lia Weiner lost at No. 1 doubles, 3-8, to Colgate sophomores Elise Derose and Samantha Inacker.
At No. 2 doubles, senior Colleen Cross and freshman Elana Polivy fell, 1-8, to the Raider duo of sophomore Cameron Williams and freshman Stephanie Bender. Freshmen Diane Samuels and Nisha Javeri were topped, 1-8, in No. 3 doubles by the Raider pair of junior Erin Fenn and sophomore Jackie Stimmel.
Top UR singles player Weiner dropped consecutive sets, 4-6, 1-6, to Derose. In the No. 2 spot, Cross was held scoreless, 0-6, 0-6, by her opponent, Inacker. Perry battled it out in the third singles spot against Isabel Riemer, winning her first set, 6-1, but she lost the last two sets, 5-7 and 1-6.
Polivy faltered at No. 4 singles, losing, 4-6, 2-6, to Williams. Samuels was defeated by Fenn at No. 5 singles, 2-6, 2-6. At sixth singles, junior Kristen Shaw was unable to win a game to Stimmel, losing each, 0-6.
The men will travel down the road to Nazareth College on March 6 to take on the Nazareth Golden Flyers at 4 p.m. Both teams go to Orlando, Fla. on March 7 for spring break training before returning to Rochester to resume play.
Levy is a member of the class of 2008.