By Alvin Halimwidjaya
The Rams have not lost since January 25th (Courtesy of Emily Sayegh/The Fordham Ram).
The Fordham women’s tennis team’s last loss came on January 25 against Drexel. Since then, the Rams have reeled off 16 straight wins, notching their last three victories this weekend. Fordham swept Saint Joseph’s and La Salle with two 7-0 wins on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8, respectively, and they eked out ahead of Rhode Island 4-3 on Sunday, April 9.
The Rams started out the weekend with their third A-10 matchup of the season against St. Joseph’s. Fordham started off by taking the doubles point, as the duo of sophomore Carina Ma and junior Estelle Wong defeated Claire Minnoe and Alex Zachem 6-1. While junior Carolina Sa and freshman Maia Balce dropped a close game to Isis Gill-Reid and Maureen Devlin 6-4, the pair of senior Mayu Sato and sophomore Alexis Zobeideh secured the point by beating Katherine Devlin and Sarah Contrata 6-1.
The Rams reigned supreme yet again in singles matches, as Ma started off the sweep with a win over Claire Minnoe 6-1, 6-4. Wong defeated Maureen Devlin 6-1, 6-2, Balce took a tight match against Isis Gill-Reid 7-5, 6-4 and Sato notched a victory against Alex Zachem 6-3, 6-0. Senior Destiny Grunin pulled out a win over Katherine Devlin 7-6 (3), 6-1, and sophomore Gianna Insogna capped off the sweep with an easy win against Sarah Contrata 6-1, 6-1.
It was more of the same against La Salle as the Rams started off with three doubles victories. Ma and Balce won against Brittany Poje and Ali Snyder 6-3, Sa and sophomore Whitney Weisberg won a close set against Jade Smith and Ally Santorelli 7-5. Zobeideh and Grunin swept Jayla Smith and Maansi Malhotra 6-0.
The Rams kept rolling right along in the singles matches. Ma notched another victory against Brittany Poje 6-3, 6-0, while Insogna took an easy game against Ali Snyder 6-0, 6-1. Grunin picked up a win against Ally Santorelli 6-1, 6-1 and Zobeideh shut Jade Smith down 6-0, 6-1. Sa earned her first singles win of the season in a close match against Jayla Smith 7-5, 6-3, and Weisberg defeated Maansi Malhotra 6-2, 6-2 in her singles debut of the season.
The Rams ran into a tough opponent at the University of Rhode Island in their final match, earning a crucial doubles point to start off Sunday. Ma Wong took a close set against Emily Zargham and Rachel Smilansky 7-5, and though Balce and Sa fell to Mihaela Codreanu and Tiara Higuchi 6-2, the duo of Sato and Zobeideh defeated Ariel Haber and Paige Alshon 6-1 to earn the point.
The Rams drew even with Rhode Island in the singles matches. Ma dropped her match to Mihaela Codreanu 6-0, 6-4, but Wong countered with a victory over Emily Zargham 7-6 (8-6), 7-5. Balce lost her first singles match of the season to Rachel Smilansk 6-4, 7-6 (4-2), and Sato fell in a back-and-forth matchup against Tiara Higuchi 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. However, Insogna defeated Ariel Haber 6-1, 6-3,and Grunin notched a victory over Jordan Rucks 6-3, 6-1.
The Rams play next against St. John’s in Jamaica, N.Y. on April 15.
