The University of Connecticut women’s tennis team comes home to Storrs this weekend for the UConn Invitational from Sept. 13-15. The campus will welcome Wesleyan, Sacred Heart, Bryant, Army and Fordham for the competition. The invitational will feature the hidden dual format, where teams will play head-to-head matches. Individual scores are counted, but team scores are not.
The Huskies are coming off of a strong performance at last week’s Quinnipiac Invitational, going 13-5 in singles matches and 10-1 in doubles overall. Senior Olivia Wright and freshman Chloe Lomans, who was making her UConn debut, both had perfect weekends, winning all of their singles and doubles matches. Wright was paired with fellow senior Maria Constantinou for her doubles wins, while Lomans teamed up with sophomore Victoria Matos.
Connecticut’s first matchup is an in-state battle against Wesleyan, who are kicking off their fall season on Friday, Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. The Cardinals look to continue an impressive 2024 stretch that saw them advance to the NCAA championship, ultimately falling to the University of Chicago. Wesleyan features one senior on their squad, Renna Mohsen-Breen, as well as juniors Sarah Youngberg and Leila Epstein. The sophomores include Alexandra Burnett, Macie Carlos, Jackie Soloveychik and Lane Durkin, who is a Darien, Conn. native. The Cardinals’ debuting freshmen are Olivia Chalik and Natalia Leroy.
Next, the Huskies will take on the Fordham Rams at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday. Fordham is also preparing for their first matches of the fall season, led by senior Lorraine Bergmann and head coach Michael Sowter. Overall, Fordham went 15-7 in the 2023-24 campaign, playing in the Atlantic 10 Championship. Juniors Nevena Kolarevic, Aya Matsunaga, and Sofie Siem add their talents to the squad, as well as sophomores Julianne Nguyen and Lily Chitambar. Freshmen Catalina Padilla Udaeta and Paola Ueno Dalmonico round out the team.
UConn’s final matchup on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 11:45 a.m. will see them face off against Army, who also played against the Huskies at the Quinnipiac Invitational. Last weekend, Army had mixed results, going 1-3 in doubles play and 2-4 in singles matches against UConn. Overall, the Black Knights went 11-12 in singles and 4-8 in doubles. For the UConn Invitational, Army’s squad will be split, with the other half participating in the Lehigh Invitational at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn. Last season, Army went 18-10, making it to the Patriot League Women’s Tennis Championship in the spring season.