It was a tough weekend for UR Tennis. Both squads traveled to Hamilton to face off against the Colgate University Raiders. Unfortunately, both teams fell short in both matches by a score of 6–1 to their Division I rival.
In the singles event for UR Women’s Tennis (URWT), the sole scorer for UR was freshman Camila Garcia. During the third singles match, Garcia beat Colgate’s Kaelin Brittin with tremendous effort in three sets, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, securing a point for UR.
“I believe that the team is ready to reach a new level,” Garcia said. “We improved a lot over the off season and I hope that in these next matches we will be able to show how talented we actually are. We are all capable of being very successful against any school. We all have a competitive spirit to be successful and to be on court to win.”
The Yellowjackets fell short in the remaining matches, allowing the Colgate Raiders to control the court. Despite facing difficulties to improve the score, senior Molly Goodman took her opponent, Jennifer Ho, to three sets—humbly losing in the tiebreaker, with the final score of 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-4. Additionally, Rochester’s own Darby McCall had an intense match and held her place before ultimately losing to Colgate’s Cheyenne Brown, 6-4 and 7-5.
Garcia said that the team is improving on their overall confidence. The Yellowjackets will most importantly have stronger minds “that will allow [us] to keep moving forward“ when being faced with adversity in a match.
On the men’s side (URT), the lone positive contributor to UR’s point total was senior Captain Ben Shapiro. He won in three sets against the Raider’s Noah Rosenblat. Shapiro won the first 6–1, dropped the second in a tiebreaker 6-7 (4) and came back to capture the match by winning the third set 6–4.
Although the final score leads many to believe a blowout ensued, UR managed to keep the doubles matches relatively close. Shapiro and Sophomore Andrew Nuno fell in a tiebreaker, while URT’s top doubles team, Ian Baranowski and Aaron Mevorach, fell 7-5 against Colgate’s Jacob Daugherty and Tom Haile.
UR is home this weekend, and both teams look to redeem themselves. URWT faces Case Western Reserve University at 11AM, while URT will square off against Vassar College at 12PM at the Goergen Athletic Center courts.
