Oct. 9, 2011

Final Stats

Bronx, N.Y. - It was an amazing weekend for the Fordham University women's tennis team. After knocking off Rhode Island, 5-2, on Saturday in Kingston, R.I., the Rams returned to the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts today to take on the University of Massachusetts, a team that Fordham had defeated only once previously. Despite two Fordham women playing with injuries, the Rams battled to a 5-2 win over the Minutewomen to stay undefeated (4-0) in fall play.

The Rams and UMass have met 14 times since 1998 with the Minutewomen winning 13 of the 14 matches, including the past eight straight. The lone Fordham win came at the 2002 Atlantic 10 Championships where the Rams upended UMass, 4-3, in the sixth place match.

The matched opened with UMass taking the doubles point, winning two of the three matches. Fordham won at first doubles as Amy Simidian and Sarah Ali won 8-6 over Yuliana Motyl and Chantal Swiszcz. But Hanna Fritzinger and Bella Genkina fell at second doubles to Sonia Bokhari and Jocelyn Providence, 8-3, and Angelika Dabu and Julie Leong dropped the third position to Jessica Podlofsky and Chanel Glasper, 8-4.

The Rams came back to win the match by taking five of the six singles matches. Simidian, Ali and Dabu won at first, second and third singles, in that order respectively, with Simidian defeating Bokhari, 6-3 and 6-4, Ali upending Motyl, 6-3 and 6-3, and Dabu besting Podlofsky, 6-2 and 6-3.

Fordham clinched the win when Fritzinger, one of the Rams who was playing with an injury, defeated Glasper at the fifth position in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-3. But Leong, who was also playing injured, tacked on another point for Fordham when she worked overtime to overcome Swiszcz at the sixth spot, dropping the first set 7-6 (2) but coming back to win the second, 6-2, to force a tiebreaker which she won 11-9.

In the other singles match, Genkina took the first set from Julia Comas at the fourth position, 6-1, but dropped the second, 7-5, and the third, 6-1.

The Fordham women's tennis team will next be in action on Saturday, October 15th, as they travel to Lehigh University for a 1:00 p.m. match.