Aude and Deminova Win Women’s Tennis Doubles at Army Invitational

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Fordham Women’s Tennis found some wins in doubles play this past weekend. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)

Matt West, Contributing Writer

With the fall season underway, the Fordham Women’s Tennis squad is building momentum and finding its stride at the perfect time. Sophomore Valeriya Deminova and freshman Avery Aude are setting winning examples that are resulting in great performances from other teammates such as sophomores Nicole Li and Genevieve Quenville.

The Rams made their way up north to compete in the Army Invitational at West Point, N.Y. Fordham opened up with doubles play by their two stars, Deminova and Aude, dictating the tempo of the match with a 6–3 win over Seton Hall University’s Regina Pitts and Minja Gligic. The two stars rode that momentum into their second match where they had a dominating victory over Binghamton University’s Michelle Eisenberg and Samara Eisenberg 6–0.

As they advanced to the quarterfinals, the dynamic duo defeated Army’s Hannah Boubel and Sasha Inchauset 6-3 to move on to the semifinals where they cruised to victory over Air Force’s Nadeen Liberman and Ashleigh Harvey. In the finals, Deminova and Aude won due to an injury withdraw from Syracuse University’s Sofya Tresgcheva and Kim Hansen.

In B doubles play, Li and Quenville opened focused and efficient, mimicking Deminova and Avery Aude with a 6–1 win over Bryant University’s Megan Tan and Aleksi Gottlieb. In their next match, the duo faced off against St. Francis University’s Jean-Na Koo and Gayathri Rajesh where they won in a convincing 6-0 victory. In the quarterfinals, Li and Quenville upset the top-seeded Air Force duo Veluvolu and Fuentes 6–3. In the semifinals, things did not go Li and Quenville’s way, as they could not handle the speed of Air Force’s Abby Warren and Sydney Fitch.

In singles play, the Rams’ magic ran out as they were defeated handily in their first match. Deminova lost to Drexel’s Ghita Benhadi 6–3 and 6–4. Aude was dominated in her match by Drexel University’s Salma Ziouti 6–4, 6–3 and 10–4. Deminova came back in the consolation bracket, defeating Fairleigh Dickerson University’s Shreya Guila 8–0 and Army’s Paola Bou 8–4 before losing an 8–3 decision to Rutgers University’s Sydney Kaplan in the semifinals. Aude did not fare so well either in her consolation match as she fell to NJIT’s Mouna Bouzgaaou 8–3 in her first consolation match.

Nicole Li and freshman Rachelle Yang would not have any luck either in their singles matches. Li lost in dominating fashion to Rutgers Kristiana Zahare 6–3, 6–1. Yang had a similar loss where she was knocked off 6–0, 6–4. In the consolation B singles, Li fell to Lehigh University’s Ella Imhof, 8–4, while Yang lost to Bryant’s Ada Boru, 8–7.

The Fordham Women’s Tennis Team has a lot of positives to take with them into next weekend’s tournament at the Hidden Duel at the University of Pennsylvania. With a week of practice ahead of them, look for the Rams to come out ready and focused to bring home some hardware.