Senior Lia Weiner won her match at No. 1 singles in the Yellowjackets' 5-4 victory over Kenyon College on Saturday, March 26. UR won five of six singles matches. Campus Times Archives.
The Rochester women’s tennis team went into their match against the Kenyon College Lords on Saturday, March 26, with a positive attitude and enormous enthusiasm. With the goal of halting a two-match losing streak from the previous weekend, the Yellowjackets succeeded by narrowly edging out the opposition with a final score of 5-4.
The day started off rough for the ‘Jackets thanks to Kenyon’s dominating doubles play. At No. 1 doubles, the duo of sophomore Frances Tseng and junior Alexandra Goodmanwas defeated by the Lords, 8-3. Junior Jamie Bow and senior Lia Weiner likewise fell at No. 2 doubles 8-4. Finally, junior Danielle Shreck and freshman Janice Zhao struggled in their match at No. 3 doubles and were defeated by a score of 8-2. After the doubles matches ended, the Yellowjackets found themselves down 3-0 against Kenyon.
Luckily, the ladies were able to recover and pull themselves together before the singles matches.
“Before the start of our singles matches, our coaches told us to block out what had just happened and to focus on the singles matches,” Tseng said. “And we did just that. We went into the singles match with confidence and dominated, winning five of the six singles matches.”
At No. 1 singles, senior Lia Weiner won both sets, 6-4, 6-3. Tseng came up with a hard-fought win over her opponent in the first set at No. 2 singles, 7-5. Tseng went on to easily defeat her tired opponent, 6-0, in the second set.
Goodman handily won No. 3 singles, 6-3, 6-2, but found her victory cancelled out by the Lords’ Amanda Polster, who upended Bow at No. 4 singles, 6-2, 6-1.
Rochester rallied back in No. 5 and No. 6 singles to win the day. Shreck dominated the court with a sweep of the opposition, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5 singles. Likewise, Zhao mirrored Shreck’s performance and blanked a Lord, 6-0, 6-0.
“I’m so proud of the girls for pulling through singles,” Tseng said. “It was a close match and the girls definitely gave it their all.”
The Rochester men’s tennis team also squared off against Kenyon College, ranked No. 7 in the nation, on Saturday. Though the young UR team gave a valiant effort, they were unable to contend with Kenyon’s seasoned lineup and lost, 0-9.
At No. 1 singles, freshman Boris Borovocanin struggled to stay ahead of the opposition and ended up on the losing end of both sets, 3-6, 1-6.
Sophomore Joel Allen couldn’t salvage a game at No. 2 singles, falling 0-6, 0-6. At No. 3 singles, senior Jeff Zink lost his first set, 2-6. He put up a fight in the second set, pushing his opponent to the brink, but was unable to pull out the win and fell, 5-7.
In the closest match of the day at No. 4 singles, junior Brian Rice won his first set, 7-6, which turned out to be the only set that Rochester won during the entire match. After relinquishing the opponent to the wire but couldn’t finish, losing 8-10.
The Lords won both No. 5 and No. 6 singles in straight sets. At No. 5 singles, senior Dan Barbash put up a fight in the first set, losing by a 4-6 margin, before stumbling in the second set, 0-6. Freshman John Etter Lewis did not fare much better at No. 6 singles, falling 2-6, 3-6.
Kenyon also swept the doubles matches. The No. 1 doubles team of Borovcanin and Rice battled hard but couldn’t match their Lords’ counterparts, losing 6-8. The No. 2 duo of Volkov and Zink and the No. 3 team of Barbash and Etter each suffered defeats by identical 3-8 margins.
The men’s team will look for a win at home on Thursday, March 31, against Nazareth College.
Bates is a member of
the class of 2014.
