After a 7-0 stomp against Providence to improve their record to 9-6, the UConn women’s tennis team will welcome the UMass Amherst Minutemen to Storrs. With the postseason looming, both teams’ focus will be to finish the regular season on a high note — and that starts with winning tough matches like these.
Matchup:
Both teams are sitting at virtually the same record with UConn at 9-6 and UMass at 8-6, but they’re coming into this one on different trajectories. Connecticut is riding a two-match winning streak, while Massachusetts has only won one of their last four. This one will be a home match for the Huskies, which looks good on the surface due to their stellar 6-2 home record. However, if we dig a little deeper and look historically, it turns out that in 13 total matchups between these two teams, UConn has never beaten UMass in Connecticut.
Additionally, in those 13 matchups, UConn has only won two total, so the Minutemen have the overall advantage. Starting back in 2008, UMass won the first seven in a row against UConn until the streak was snapped in 2015. After that win, the Minutemen went on another tear, winning the next four. That being said, UConn did come out victorious in their last match by a score of 4-3 in Amherst, Massachusetts to snap the most recent streak. That was in April 2023, though, and while the rosters are largely the same, there’s been a lot each team has gone through leading up to this match.
Players to Watch:
For UConn, the one-two punch of juniors Olivia Wright and Maria Constantinou has been effective all year. Both have eight dual wins (17 overall) on the year, which is only one behind team leader freshman Caroline Hinshaw. UConn’s one through four singles players have remained mostly the same throughout the year, and those four have performed very well. After Wright and Constantinou, junior Isabel Petri Bere is usually in the third spot followed by Hinshaw at four. While freshman Victoria Matos hasn’t performed as well in singles this spring as she did in the fall, she and Wright have been doubles partners 22 times and won 16 of those matches. Right behind them is the partnership of Petri Bere and Hinshaw with 14 wins out of their 23 matches.
For UMass, their own dynamic duo of senior Danielle Hack and junior Thamonpan Jonglertrakul will be very tough to stop. They’re currently sitting at No. 1 and No. 2 in singles wins for the Minutemen with eight and seven, respectively. In addition to being excellent individual players, when partnered up they lead the team in doubles wins with eight. While these two will be the ones to watch, there are some particularly skillful players deep in the rotation to keep an eye on. Junior Mariana Campino is third on the team in singles wins and has a respectable 5-3 record on the year playing in the third through fifth singles positions. Sophomore Ella Faessler and freshman Amelia Tye both have below .500 singles records (4-6 and 4-5 respectively), but together they’re second on the team in doubles wins with seven.
Overall
These are two evenly matched squads, and anything could happen. It should be a close one and no one should be surprised if it comes down to the last few matches to determine a winner. As the stats indicate, the top players on each team match up nicely, but the key will be how well the four through six singles competitors can fare.