Last Wednesday, the women’s tennis team travelled across the Hudson River to defeat Fairleigh Dickinson in Teaneck, New Jersey. They flipped last week’s 5-2 loss against the University of Albany into a 5-2 win over the Knights.
Junior Mayu Sato and sophomore Estelle Wong appeared again in first doubles, but lost to the team of Gisela Castany and Shreya Pasricha in a 6-4 match. Junior Hannah Drayton and freshman Gianna Insogna took the second doubles point for Fordham in a 7-6 (7-1) box score.
Both teams had a doubles point as they moved forward into singles play. By default, junior Destiny Gruinin and Insogna took the respective fifth and sixth singles points due to Fairleigh Dickinson’s short roster.
Freshman Alexis Zobeideh took the first finish in fourth singles. She easily defeated Sabrina Helm in two 6-0, 6-0 sets. Likewise, Sato quickly downed Castany by a score of 6-4, 6-2. This was her sixth straight singles win, a streak that started with her win over Binghamton’s Annie DiMuro on March 13.
Drayton added a loss to her personal record after a two-set match against Pasricha. She finished the third match of the day, 6-4, 6-2. In first singles, Wong, the team’s captain, endured a three-set match against Nicole Chis. She won the first set 4-6, but then fell 6-3, 10-6.
Over the weekend, the team faced off against a fellow Atlantic 10 member, Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh. They lost the event by a close score of 4-3.
The doubles teams of Wong and Sato and Drayton and Insogna lost in first and third doubles. Wong and Sato lasted through a 7-6 game against Kylie Isaacs and Julianne Herman. Drayton and Insogna fell behind to their opponents, Alexa Miller and Megan Wasson, by a score of 6-3. Zobeideh and Grunin won the only doubles point for the Rams against Ally Miller and Zuzanna Stelmaszak, 6-4.
In singles action, Wong was swept in a 6-0, 6-0 first singles loss to Kylie Isaacs. In second singles, Julianne Hermann of Duquesne defeated Sato in three rounds, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Drayton marked the third and final singles loss with Alexa Miller. She fought through a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 match.
Zobeideh, Grunin and Insogna won their respective singles points. In fourth singles, Zobeideh stood her ground in a three-set win over Megan Wasson. She won the first set 6-2 and lost the second 1-6, but she came back to take the match point in her third set, 6-3. Grunin also won her fifth singles rally against Ally Miller, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Finally, Insogna completed the box score with a quick win over Zuzanna Stelmaszak, 6-1, 6-2.
The women will host A-10 rival Saint Joseph’s University on Sunday, April 10. The match will begin at 12 p.m. at Fordham’s Hawthorn-Rooney tennis courts.
