Women’s tennis had a successful run in the A-10 Championships but ultimately fell short. Christian Wiloejo/ The Fordham Ram
By Jake Grogan
The Fordham women’s tennis team was seeded fifth headed into the Atlantic 10 Championships this past weekend down in Charlottesville, Virginia. Their first opponent in the tournament was the University of Rhode Island, seeded twelfth, a team they beat 6-1 just four days earlier.
The match produced much of the same despite Fordham’s inability to secure the doubles point early on. Freshman Estelle Wong and senior Julie Leong earned a doubles victory, but the senior pairings of Bella Genkina and Anika Novachek and Sarah Ali and Elliesa Ball both fell in their respective matches. The first four singles matches of the day all ended in straight set wins for the ladies, leading to a 4-1 win for the fifth seeded Rams. Sophomore Destiny Grunin, Leong, Ali and Ball were the victors.
Fordham’s second match of the tournament came against the fourth seeded Davidson Wildcats, who knocked off St. Bonaventure to advance to the quarterfinals. The Rams bounced back from an early loss from Benkina and Novachek at second doubles to win two of three, one by Leong and Wong and took other by Ball and Ali, and take the doubles point going in to the singles round. Tied at two all after three matches, Ali and Wong came out on top in the second and third spots to secure the victory, resulting in a trip to the semifinals to face the top seeded VCU Rams.
Unable to continue their streak of success, Fordham fell convincingly to the defending and eventual repeat A10 Champions after not scoring a single point in the contest.
They dropped the doubles point early, after Leong and Wong dropped the third doubles set 8-3, and Ali and Ball lost in the first doubles position by a score of 8-4. The singles round produced much of the same, as the VCU women won their first three matches in straight sets to advance to the finals, where they knocked off third seeded Massachusetts. Genkina was the lone victor for the Rams in the semifinals.
While the Rams were unable to take home a conference championship, they did manage to win two straight tournament matches for the first time since 2002 and showed a lot of promise for the future of the program.
While the upcoming graduation will have an impact on the team’s roster, the Rams have two returning stars in Grunin and Wong, two athletes who can anchor a team that might have to depend a little bit more on talented underclassmen in the future.
Regardless of whether or not you consider this past season to be a success for the Rams, it is hard to argue that the team does not have reason for optimism in the coming seasons.
