After five consecutive weekends of tournaments, the UConn women’s tennis team will look to finish the fall portion of their season on a high note this weekend as they head to Providence, Rhode Island, to compete in the Brown Invitational.
This past weekend, UConn had a humbling outing at the Princeton Invitational, where the Huskies had an overall team record of 8-22 across all matches; A step back from their solid showing at the ITA Regional Championship two weekends ago.
Luckily for the Huskies, there is one final tournament this weekend, meaning one last chance to get that sour taste out of their mouth before the winter break.
“We want our players to feel strong and confident heading into the spring season,” said Head Coach Glenn Marshall.
However, that may be tough for UConn, who will face off against tough competition this weekend with top programs such as Dartmouth, Yale, UMass and the hosting Brown in attendance.
“It’s a good, challenging tournament for us to see where we are at and where we’ve come,” said Marshall.
A year ago when the Huskies competed in this invitational, Isabel Petri Bere, then a freshman, had an excellent showing, winning all three of her singles and two of her three doubles matches.
Furthermore, the Huskies finished that weekend with an overall record of 12-11, which served as a momentum builder heading into the winter break.
This tournament, as all the fall tournaments do, will be used as a building block for UConn, as they aim to compete near the top of the Big East this upcoming spring season after an unflattering 10-12 overall record last season.
“All this match play that we have in the fall will prepare us for team events come spring,” Marshall said.
New additions to the UConn team have proved fruitful. According to Marshall, Olivia Wright, a transfer from Providence (another Big East program) will play at the top of the lineup immediately in the spring.
Last weekend, Wright enjoyed a pair of doubles victories with her teammate Petri Bere, a silver lining to the team’s disappointing outing.
Additionally, according to Marshall, Maria Constantinou, a transfer from Delaware, will be playing toward the top three of the lineup as well come spring.
These top-of-the-lineup, immediate-impact additions will join forces with three returning seniors.
“We’ve got a deep team, probably a deeper team than we’ve had the past three or four years. All the way down the lineup, we’ve gotten a little bit stronger,” said Marshall.
But Marshall is not looking too far ahead, stating the importance of the fall portion of the season and this weekend.
“In the fall, you have a lot of opportunities to work on your game, really develop, and get challenged in match play on weekends like this at Brown,” said Marshall.
