Fairfield, Conn., Loudonville, N.Y. – The UCI women's tennis team split two matches after a dominant 3-0 showing on opening day. The team continued its hot streak sweeping Sacred Heart, but lost in a nail biter to Siena.
"Danielle (Garrido) and Gillian (Parker) executed their game plans and technique flawlessly in singles and doubles. I was proud of how focused and coachable they were. Yulin (Chen) did a great job of battling and hanging in there. She was determined to win that match," said head coach
Elizabeth Ferris. "Today was also a great opportunity for Megan (Mansonhing) and Shreya (Pavani) to get a chance to see what it takes to compete against a solid D-I team. I think the loss against Siena came down to doubles. We still need to do a more consistent job of trusting our games and buying into the strategy. Even though we lost, we gave ourselves chances to beat a very deep Siena team. That being said, it's nice to get a win today against Sacred Heart. I think the freshmen are gaining invaluable experiences and our returning players are really stepping up this season. Alyssia (Fossier) and Flora (Amiri) did a better job of closing out games, and Hazell/Arianna/Jackie had another solid day. It was also nice for Jessica to get the match back under control and get the win. Tomorrow will be a big test as Marist and Fairfield are both deep teams."
UC Irvine 7, Sacred Heart 0
Irvine started out hot, as the tandems of Stepahnie Hazell/
Jessica Tsukiji and
Flora Amiri/
Arianna Tilbury both won their doubles matches 6-2, while freshmen tandem
Dana Mackensen/
Alyssia Fossorier also won 6-4.
In singles play, Hazell was again dominant in the No. 1 spot as she won with ease, 6-4, 6-1. Tsukiji won a tough match at the No. 2 spot 7-6, 6-4, while freshman
Alyssia Fossorier earned a 6-0, 6-1 decision at No. 3.
Flora Amiri was solid at the No. 4 spot, winning 6-4 and 6-1. At the No. 5 spot,
Arianna Tilbury took both sets 6-3.
Jacqueline Tsodikova capped off the sweep, winning in two sets, 6-3, 6-1.
"It was great to experience my first back-to-back win of the season," said Tsodikova. "I most liked being a part of our first team sweep against a really strong Sacred Heart team today. My opponent was very consistent so I kept telling myself to run down every ball and put the ball in play which helped me come out on top. Go 'Eaters!"
UC Irvine 3, Siena 4
The Anteaters struggled in doubles play, dropping two of three matches. The tandems of
Stephanie Nguyen/YulinChen and
Dasee Carter/
Shreya Pavani each lost 6-3, while
Danielle Garrido/
Gillian Parker notched the only doubles win, 6-2.
In singles play, Siena's Meagan Brown took a 1-0 lead over
Stephanie Nguyen in the first set before the match was retired. At the No. 2 spot, Chen overcame a loss of focus in the second of three sets to win 6-4, 3-6, 10-1.
On her performance, Chen said, "I started off the match playing well and was moving great, but I became comfortable with the match and lost focus in the middle. I was able to refocus on the game plan and closed out the match in the third set. The team helped motivate me to push harder. I think this match was a really good practice for getting ready for the Spring season."
Danielle Garrido and
Gillian Parker played well at the Nos. 3 and 4 spots, winning 6-2, 6-1, and 6-3, 6-1, respectively. However, freshmen
Shreya Pavani and
Megan Mansonhing each suffered losses in the Nos. 5 and 6 spots, giving Siena the 4-3 overall victory.
UCI concludes its first East Coast trip tomorrow with two matches against Fairfield (7 a.m.) and Marist (7 a.m.).
