After winning five matches in a row, the UConn women’s tennis team is rolling into two home matchups. Their first is Saturday at 2 p.m. against Army, and their second is Sunday at noon against a Big East opponent in St. John’s University. As they hit the midway point in the season, the Huskies will be trying to identify who their most consistent performers are and lean on them with the hopes of winning four sets every match.
After a slow 2-3 start to the season, UConn has been on a tear for nearly a month. Coming back from barely losing to Long Island University on Feb. 25, they beat down on Seton Hall, 6-1, and haven’t looked back since. The Huskies started by taking three straight at the Magic Lincer courts in Manchester, Connecticut, including the aforementioned defeat of Seton Hall , another 6-1 shellacking against Sacred Heart University and then a 5-2 victory over Quinnipiac University. Then the women took their show on the road, beating Florida Southern College 4-3 and crushing Bethune-Cookman University 7-0 during their spring break tour of the Sunshine State.
UConn’s first opponent of the weekend is the Army Black Knights, who come into the meet with a 15-7 record overall, not having faced any Patriot League opponents. They’ve been on a bit of a slide as of late, losing three of their last four, but before that, held an impressive eight-match win streak. They’ve really had an impressive season thus far, and it will be interesting to see how it progresses as they inevitably find their way out of this slump and back into the win column. Overall, expect a really difficult matchup for the Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
UConn’s second opponent will be the St. John’s Red Storm, who come into this matchup with an 8-5 record overall and a 1-0 record in their Big East meetings. They’ve been on a hot streak lately, which has led to three straight wins. However, in the larger scope of the entire season, they’ve been less reliable — two wins in a row followed by three losses in a row preceded this current streak. Given the ebb and flow of St. John’s’ season up to this point, expect this matchup to be slightly easier than the one against Army for the Huskies.
This will be a solid weekend for UConn. It will be a real test for them coming off 10 days of rest, so the hope is that they’ll play with renewed energy and come out of this weekend with a couple more wins under their belt.
