After a tough loss to a very strong Boston College unit, the UConn tennis team looks to come out on top for the first time this season as they take on in-state foe Fairfield University on Wednesday at 1 p.m. and Massachusetts school Merrimack College on Saturday at 4 p.m., both at the Magic Lincer Tennis Academy in Manchester, Connecticut. The Huskies will be aiming to get back on track by the time the first full week of February begins.
The last day of Husky tennis was a disaster, as the team couldn’t manage to win even a single set over the course of nine total matches. The BC Eagles thoroughly dominated them, as only three sets in total went to tiebreakers while the rest felt like total washes. It was the kind of loss that can only be described as a rude wake-up call for UConn, a reminder that they will have to play better going forward if they want to compete with the likes of BC.
That being said, the Huskies’ competition does become a little more favorable for them this week, as it starts with a matinee match against the Fairfield Stags. They come in with a similar position to UConn, having a 0-1 record after a blowout loss to St. John’s University where they also couldn’t take a set. Fairfield couldn’t even manage to bring any of the sets to a tiebreaker, showing just how much of a rout that day was. Unfortunately, history does not seem to indicate any sort of change in their trajectory, as they’ve had seven matchups with UConn over the past 13 years and have yet to win a single meet. When the two schools played last year, it was utter domination on behalf of the UConn women’s team with a 6-1 score. After losing an opening double point, the Huskies went the rest of the day without losing. Whether their upcoming meet on Wednesday will be the same or not is yet to be seen.
After a couple days’ rest, the Huskies women will be taking on the Merrimack Warriors, who will come into Saturday with a 1-4 overall record, their last win coming in September against Endicott College. Since then, Merrimack has had trouble putting together any sort of victory. When it seemed like they might have been setting themselves right when they battled Quinnipiac University last Saturday, losing only 3-4, they went to Hanover, New Hampshire the very next day to play a strong Dartmouth College squad that drubbed the Warriors 0-7. Much like UConn and Fairfield, Merrimack was also completely shut out, not winning a single set. History is also not favorable for these Warriors, as in their last meeting with the Huskies, they got run over by a score of 7-0. It seems like their only hope this weekend is to come to Connecticut and win a single set to break that awful streak of no victories.
The theme of this week appears to be hapless squads who need to get back up after enduring brutal first-round sucker punches. Though Fairfield and Merrimack will certainly come into their matches with renewed intensity, the Huskies will have to hope that their immense desire to win will outmatch that of these two squads and allow them to mark their first tally in the win column this season.
