By Gigi Speer
The Fordham women’s tennis team showed its true colors Saturday night at Life Time Athletic in Harrison, New York. The Rams beat Quinnipiac 7-0, reversing the results from the matches against Harvard and Yale last weekend.
Sophomore Arina Taluyenko and senior Tatiana Grigoryan beat Dominique Vasile and Proyfon Lohaphaisan 6-3 in first doubles. Junior Maia Balce and senior Gianna Insogna fell to Kamilla Nella and Layla Rodriguez 6-4 in second doubles, while freshmen Nicole Li and Genevieve Quenville bested Stephanie Yanosov and Alexandra Mircea in an exciting 6-4 win at third doubles to take the point for Fordham.
Success continued in singles, with all players beating their opponents and sweeping the Quinnipiac team to finish off the night. Starting at fourth singles, Quenville achieved a 6-3, 6-0 win over Payton Bradley, and Grigoryan followed with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Jennifer Lu in the second singles to give Fordham a 3-0 lead. Li beat Rodriguez 6-3, 6-0 and Taluyenko won 6-3, 6-4 over Vasile at first singles, while Insogna and Balce won sixth and third singles, respectively.
“In singles, it was great to watch my players dominate in all but two positions,” Coach Bette-Anne Speliotis Ligouri said. “My freshmen, Nicole Li and Genevieve Quenville, really came out fighting in singles after their doubles win, with only losing 4 games between them.”
Ligouri also said she was proud of Balce.
“Tatiana Grigoryan was just perfection in 2nd singles while her partner, Arina Taluyenko in 1st singles absorbed the pressure of leading the team like the world-class player that she is,” she said. “But to see Maia Balce come back from losing the 1st set showed everyone what a great competitor she is.”
Ligouri was also proud of Insogna, who, despite having a sinus infection, played her best tennis of the new year.
Look out Friday, Feb. 8 as the team travels across the Hudson to the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 5 p.m.
Coach Liguori is positive about the upcoming season: “All in all, I am very pleased by the team’s play this early in the season and hope to continue improving.”
