The UConn women’s tennis team hosted Sacred Heart Thursday afternoon, their first home match in 11 days after traveling to Chicago, IL, and Indianapolis, IN, to play DePaul and Butler, respectively. They came out victorious against the Pioneers, making it two wins in a row for the Huskies, who sit at 7-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big East.
Results
Juniors Olivia Wright and Maria Constantinou were up first for UConn, partnering up in doubles against seniors Katsiaryna Starastsenka and Kim Fenton. Things started off great for the Huskies, as Wright and Constantinou jumped out to a commanding 5-0 lead in the match, needing only one more game to secure the 6-0 victory. However, Starastsenka and Fenton had other ideas. The seniors from Sacred Heart stormed back, rattling off five straight wins of their own to knot things up at five-a-piece. Wright and Constantinou were able to compose themselves in the following game, winning and securing the 6-5 advantage, but Starastsenka and Fenton’s momentum proved to be too much. They won the next two games and secured a nail-biter of a victory for the Pioneers.
Junior Isabel Petri Bere and freshman Caroline Hinshaw had a similar match against Sacred Heart’s pairing of senior Flavia Rambaldi and junior Aina Garriga. Rambaldi and Garriga jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but on the brink of losing, Petri Bere and Hinshaw battled back to tie things at 3-3. After some more back and forth, the Huskies came out victorious, 6-4.
In the final doubles match, UConn relied on senior Nansi Toskova and freshman Isabella Asenov, who went against graduate student Ciara O’Toole and freshman Malena del Olmo in order to decide which team would receive the crucial double point. This time, after starting 3-0, Sacred Heart was able to see out the match. It finished with a resounding 6-1 score, setting the Pioneers up very nicely for singles play.
While doubles didn’t go as well as usual for the Huskies, they brought their A-game to singles. At first, things worsened as Starastsenka defeated Wright in three sets with scores of 2-6, 6-0 and 6-7. With a loss looking like a strong possibility, UConn secured all five of the remaining singles wins, all in straight sets, propelling them to triumph.
Constantinou defeated Rambaldi by a score of 6-2, 6-2, securing her 14th singles win of the year. Petri Bere was victorious against Garringa (6-2, 6-2,) keeping her in the top spot with 18 singles wins. Hinshaw bested O’Toole (6-0, 6-3) and now sits right behind Petri Bere in singles wins with a very impressive total of 16. Sophomore Cameron Didion defeated fellow sophomore Ana Sofia Angeles Sánchez (6-0, 6-2) putting her officially at double digits on the year with 10 singles wins. Finally, Asenov wrapped things up for UConn against junior Renee Sharma (6-0, 7-5) to bring her singles record to .500 (9-9).
What’s Next
UConn will be back in action on Wednesday, March 6, in Boston, MA, for a matchup with Boston University.