By Gigi Speer
The Fordham Women’s Tennis team took two trips north this weekend, playing at Yale on Friday and Harvard on Sunday to open up the spring season. After five fall tournaments at Stony Brook, Columbia, West Point, Yale and Harvard, the senior-dominated team was ready to get back in action this weekend, gearing up for conference play starting Feb. 15 against Seton Hall.
The fall saw dominance by sophomore Arina Taluyenko in both singles and doubles, ending October going 6-0 in her matches over the course of the three-day tournament at the Harvard Invitational.
To start off the spring, Yale swept all three doubles matches on Saturday, with Taluyenko and Tatiana Grigory an in first doubles, freshmen Nicole Li and Genevieve Quenville in second doubles, and seniors Alexis Zobeideh and Gianna Insogna in third doubles. Zobeideh and Insogna forced an extra game before falling 7-5.
In singles, Taluyenko lost 7-5 and 6-3 in first singles, junior Maia Balce fell 6-2 and 6-1 in second singles and Grigoryan was bested 6-0 and 6-2 in third singles. In fourth, fifth, and sixth singles respectively, Li lost 6-2 and 6-0, Quenville 7-6 and 6-3 and Insogna 6-0 and 6-3.
Travelling to Cambridge, the results were the same, with a 7-0 loss to Harvard.
Doubles play saw Taluyenko-Grigoryan being bested 6-3, Balce and Insogna losing 6-0, and bookends Zobeideh and Li winning 5-2 when the match was stopped.
For singles, Taluyenko won the first set 6-2, then Harvard’s Erica Oosterhout tied the match 6-3 in the second set, before beating Taluyenko 12-10 in the tiebreaker. Balce lost 6-4 and 6-3 in second singles, Grigoryan 6-1 and 6-3 in third singles and Quenville being bested 6-1 and 6-1 in fourth singles. In fifth and sixth singles, Li lost 6-0 and 6-3, while Insogna fell 6-1 and 6-2.
The Rams will look for redemption this Saturday, Feb. 2 against Quinnipiac University, hosting them at Life Time Athletic in Harrison, N.Y at 7:00 p.m.
