This past Saturday, both the men’s and the women’s tennis teams competed in hard-fought battles against Division I Colgate University. The Yellowjackets split games, with the men’s team suffering a loss to the Raiders, while the Lady ‘Jackets dominated the Raiders.
The men’s team lost all seven matches, while the women’s team claimed victory by winning five of the seven matches played.
Freshman Austin Armstrong won his opening set against Colgate’s John Nogueras at No. 3 singles, 6-1.
But Nogueras bounced back to even up the score and claim victory with a 6-2 win in the second set and eventually a 6-1 victory in the third set.
After UR’s first loss, senior Brian Bowman lost in straight sets to Colgate’s No. 1, as did sophomores Brian Schmeer and Alex Magill.
In doubles, Colgate’s Connor Feuille and Parker Lewis needed a tiebreaker to win their match at No. 3 against UR junior Dan Barbash and sophomore Matt Volkov. The final score was 9-8 (3).
Meanwhile, the women’s tennis team opened its spring season on a high note, defeating Colgate, 5-2.
The Yellowjackets clinched the victory by winning the first five singles matches.
Colgate won the No. 6 singles match and took two of the three doubles events.
Sophomore Jamie Bow was a double winner for the Yellowjackets, winning at third singles and third doubles.
Sophomore Danielle Shreck defeated Colgate’s Stephanie Brown, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 5 singles. Sophomore Alex Goodman downed Colgate’s No. 4, 6-2, 6-4.
Bow needed a tiebreaker to win her first set 7-6 (4)at No. 3, then won the second set, 6-1. Junior Lia Weiner earned the point at No. 2 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Colgate’s Samantha Inacker.
‘The team was pleased with their performance,” head coach Matt Nielson said. ‘Winning five out of six singles matches against a tough team like Colgate was impressive. Last year, Colgate defeated us 7-2 on our home courts and won four out of six singles matches.”
The women’s team plays The College of New Jersey next on March 7 in Orlando, Fla. The women’s team will look to bring its fire from the first week into the remainder of its season this spring.
‘Since last year the team has been training hard and this sort of victory has to feel good,” Nielson said. ‘The team has been working hard on the practice court and was eager to see it pay off in a match. It was a great start to our spring season.”
The men’s team will next take on Ithaca College and LeMoyne College at home on Feb. 20 and 21. The Yellowjackets suffered a 3-5 loss at the hands of the Bombers in early September last year.
Following that matchup, the men will travel with the women down to Florida, where they will take on TCNJ, among other regional rivals.
Zaeem is a member of the class of 2012.
