The past week was an eventful one for the UR women’s tennis team, beating Rochester Institute of Technology 9-0 and having freshman Lia Weiner advance to the quarterfinals of the singles draw and the semifinals of the doubles draws at the ITA Regional Championships hosted by William Smith College.
Against RIT, the women turned on the heat, winning all singles and doubles matches, taking all the possible points of the match. Weiner won her match at the first singles position, 6-0, 6-2.
Senior Colleen Cross had a field day at the second singles position, sweeping her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Elana Polivy took care of her opponent 6-0, 6-0.
Junior Melinda Beckmann won in the fourth single position, 7-6, 6-2. Freshman Diane Samuels won her match, 6-2, 6-3.
Freshman Nisha Javeri closed off the sweep in the singles matches by beating her opponent, 6-2, 7-5.
The result was the same for the doubles matches, as UR swept RIT to claim a shutout. Weiner and Cross came together to win 8-0, while Javeri and Beckmann took care of their opponent 8-5 and Polivy and Samuels dropped the hammer on RIT, winning 8-1 to finish off the scoring.
“The freshmen this year have already made a huge impact on the team. They have made a smooth transition to collegiate tennis and have been impressive in their first matches,” Cross said.
The team then traveled to William Smith College to take part in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championships. Weiner swept her first two matches 6-0, 6-0. She then won her third match 6-0, 6-1 before running into the top-seeded player in the regionals and falling 2-6, 3-6.
“Lia has announced herself as one of the top players in the region by cruising into the quarters of the ITA Regional Championships. She comes in as an accomplished junior player and with some more experience and some additions to her game she can make a big impact as a freshman,” head coach Anna Tozin said.
Perry also played in the consolation draw, in which she advanced to the third round, eventually losing 5-8.
As for the doubles side of the draw, Weiner and senior Alexa Perry advanced deep into the doubles draw before falling to the number one seed and defending champions from The College of New Jersey, 5-8.
“I am very pleased with the way our freshman class has performed in their first month on the team. The upperclassmen have been picking up their games as well and we are stronger than a month ago. We have a lot of work to do in the next couple of weeks in both doubles and singles to prepare for a strong finish at states,” Tozin said.
The team goes on the road to take on Narazeth College to finish off their season on Oct. 2 before heading off to the New York State Championships at Cornell University.
“We have had a very good fall season so far. Because of our success, we are confident that we will be very competitive in the UAA in the spring,” Cross said.
Maystrovsky is a member of the class of 2009.
