Coming off a big win against Seton Hall University last Sunday, the University of Connecticut women’s tennis team is looking to continue its success against Sacred Heart University on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Magic Lincer Tennis Club in Manchester, Connecticut. Its focus for this week will likely be to develop consistency and momentum that they can build on as they inch closer and closer to the midway point of the season.
The Huskies easily took down the Pirates in 6-1 fashion on Sunday. They easily handled the singles matches, winning all but one while allowing just one of those wins to go to a third set. The dominance came from everyone on the team. The No. 1, Puerto Rican Julieanna Bou, easily handled her opponent, Arina Gumerova, in two sets. German Leonie Hoppe also held her own, going 7-5 and 6-2 against the Pirates’ Chloe Hamlin. The doubles teams also played very well, with the Nos. 2 and 3 doubles squads taking their sets by a comfortable margin. After starting the season slow at 2-3, a victory like this can really propel a team like UConn out of mediocrity and into the spotlight.
This week, the Huskies will be taking on the Sacred Heart Pioneers. Sacred Heart comes into this one with a record similar to UConn’s — 7-7. They’ve had a largely mediocre season that has bounced between hot and cold streaks. As a matter of fact, coming into Wednesday, the Catholic University from Fairfield, Connecticut, is the proud owner of a three-meet win streak, which followed a stretch where they lost four of five matches. It’s hard to know what to expect from the Pioneers, but expect them to play with the same intensity they did in their last match, which was a 7-0 rout of Wagner College.
The last time the Huskies and Pioneers met, they played in Manchester a little under a year ago, where UConn thrashed its opponent, 7-0. At that point, everything was clicking for the Huskies, who cleaned house and had many sweep sets. UConn is also 2-1 overall against Sacred Heart since 2009, so though we may not expect to see another beatdown, the women will be looking to continue their winning ways on Wednesday.
Overall, this will be a good meet, with the sides being relatively evenly matched. However, if the Huskies come out with some fire and overpower the Pioneers, there’s good reason to believe they’ll walk away victorious.
