Sophomore Annie Mallin serving in the doubles’ match in which her and Erica Shay won 8-1.
By Ally Boucher-
The Salve women’s tennis team served up a victory over Rhode Island College on Wednesday, September 14, 2011
It was a beautiful day for tennis on Wednesday when Salve Regina University’s women’s tennis team routed the Rhode Island College team. The sun was shining overhead as the tennis team defeated the RIC Anchorwomen 8-1.
“Our team bounced back very well from a tough conference defeat the day before,” says SRU women’s head coach, Ed Habershaw, speaking of the team’s 9-0 loss to Nichols College in Massachusetts on Tuesday.
According to Habershaw, the approach of the team is to “find out in warmups, or early in the match, what the opponent likes and doesn’t like, and then give her what she doesn’t like.” It was the fourth match of the season for Salve, balancing their record at two wins and two losses. Rhode Island College was looking for its first win of the season going into their first match against Salve since 2006.
The Seahawks won all three of their doubles matches. Salve’s doubles team of freshman Megan Olson and junior Shannon O’Brien were up by two games before dropping a set. They stayed up 4-1, 5-2, 6-3, eventually volleying to a victory of 8-3. Annie Mallin and Erica Shay rolled to an impressive 8-1 victory. The third doubles team, of sophomore Ana Gwozdz and senior Nichol Stevens competed in a close match, eventually winning 8-5.
Coach Habershaw describes this year’s team as a “young squad,” consisting of one senior, two juniors, three sophomores, and four freshmen.
Habershaw’s overall impression of the match on Wednesday was that they won the matches “fairly quickly and therefore had the team decision in hand, but [the] singles matches were all close battles.”
“Senior Nickie Stevens suffered an uncharacteristic first-set loss (6-0),” Habershaw said. Stevens was able to pinpoint her opponent’s weakness and come back from a deficit by mixing up the height on her shots. She recovered well and won the second set 6-1, and the third set in a tiebreak.
Freshman singles player, Elizabeth DiFilippo, moved ahead with a 6-0 second-set win after losing a 5-2 lead, but went on to lose in the third set. Habershaw thought that, “[DiFilippo] learned that a match is never over after the first set.”
Sophomore Ana Gwozdz also was down in her match before coming back. She lost the first set and was losing 2-5 in the second set, but yet again came back to win five straight games and force a deciding third set. Habershaw believes Gwozdz’s “experience over the last year and a half allowed her to play confidently down the stretch.”
The final score for the singles’ matches were: Nichol Stevens (SRU) def. Chelsea Brown (RICWT) 0-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5). Gabriela Batek (RICWT) def. Elizabeth DiFilippo (SRU) 7-6 (8-6), 0-6, 1-0 (10-6). Ana Gwozdz (SRU) def. Doris Belanger (RICWT) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-7). Shannon O’Brien (SRU) def. Gianna Vallante (RICWT) 6-0, 6-1. Elizabeth Liguori (SRU) def. Taylor Clark (RICWT) 6-0, 6-0. Erica Shay (SRU) def. Amanda Ferri (RICWT) 6-2, 6-0.
The next match for the Salve women’s tennis team is at home against Commonwealth Coast Conference rival, Curry College, on Wednesday, September 21. Their next two matches are away, at Eastern Nazarene College, on Saturday, September 24, and at Wentworth Institute of Technology, on Tuesday September, September 27.
