The ball keeps rolling for the UConn women’s tennis team, as they earned their fifth victory in a row. Coming off a shorter break than usual, the Huskies defeated Quinnipiac University 5-2 on Wednesday, grabbing another important win before the team heads into spring break.
Prior to the match, the Huskies came in at a record of 6-2, clearly on a tear as they were dominating inferior competition. They triumphed over Stony Brook, Drexel, Rhode Island and Providence on their way to an impressive four-meet win streak where they only lost seven total points out of 32 completed. They had the wind at their backs as they reached the Magic Lincer Tennis Academy in Manchester, Connecticut. The Quinnipiac Bobcats, on the other hand, held a much shakier 4-4, and though they had won three of their previous four, they narrowly lost to a very tough Army squad nearly three days prior, a close defeat which would have shaken their confidence. Given both of these teams’ momentum, it is safe to assume how the meet went as they faced off at gametime.
The day started with doubles, which went well for UConn. In doubles-1, Olivia Wright and Maria Constantinou won their set 6-3, and in doubles-2, Aleksandra Karamyshev and Isabel Petri Bere came out on top 6-2, securing a point for Connecticut in that portion of the meet. Then came the singles portion, which was a little more close for comfort. Wright won her set as singles-1 6-0, 6-0, as did Bere in singles-4 by scores of 6-4, 6-1. However, Quinnipiac’s Claire Koscielski got her squad on the board, winning singles-2 6-2, 6-2 and bringing the Bobcats right back into it. The Huskies fired back and ultimately sealed the meet victory: Karamyshev won singles-3 6-3, 6-3. Despite that, the last two uncompleted sets were played out, and the two teams split them: the Bobcats took singles-5 in three sets (6-1, 0-6, 6-1) thanks to Vera Sekerina’s great play, and the Huskies’ Cameron Didion ended the day with a singles-6 win in two sets, but with a tiebreaker 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
This was yet another great win for the Huskies as they continue to truck through the middle portion of the season. The trap they’ll have to avoid is the snowball effect that a streak-halting loss could have. They don’t want to have all of this momentum only for it to fall into a losing trend for the rest of the season like last year’s squad did after starting in a similar position. As they ponder that, they’ll have a well-deserved break as the women rest up before heading to Orlando, Florida for some spring break matches against Big East foe Creighton and Navy.
