September 26, 2007

Women's Tennis Competes at Quinnipiac Invitational

Sept. 26, 2007

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Rhode Island women's tennis team traveled to Hamden, Conn. to compete in the Quinnipiac Invitational, Sept. 12-14. The tournament featured teams from Army, Connecticut, Binghamton, Seton Hall, University of Maryland-Baltimore, Quinnipiac and Rhode Island.

"The goal was to play lots of tennis and get all eight players into multiple singles and doubles matches," said head coach Sandy Wood. "With three days of sunshine, the result was just what we are looking for. All the teams were very strong, which meant there were no easy matches. I was pleased that we were able to hold our own against these talented teams. It shows we've had a very productive fall season that the girls are improving and playing well. When the dust had settled, we had an overall record of 20-26 with every member of the team winning at least one match.

"One of the highlights was turned in by freshman Christen Cadigan, who reached the finals of the B draw. (The B draw is comprised of the number three and four singles players from each school.) To get there and she played outstanding attacking tennis and showed veteran composure and excellent mental toughness to defeat fine players from Seton Hall, Quinnipiac and UConn. In the finals, she narrowly lost in three sets to an outstanding player from Binghamton while playing her best tennis of the season in the first set. Sophomore Amanda Barletta also dropped her first match, but followed that up strongly by winning the B consolation over players from Maryland, Seton Hall and Army.

"We did struggle somewhat in doubles, sporting an 8-12 record. We will work on improving our doubles play over the next few weeks. The key is to get more aggressive with our returns and volleys. Our number one team of Nyssa Peele and Grace Hedstrom played well, beating both the #1 and #2 teams from UConn, while dropping a match against Quinnipiac's top duo. The other pairings had flashes of solid play, but are not where we need to be as yet."

Combined singles and doubles records for the three-day event were:

Nyssa Peele: 3-3
Grace Hedstrom: 2-4
Amanda Barletta: 3-3
Christen Cadigan: 4-2
Kristen Liu: 2-2
Brooke Hoover: 2-4
Steff Catanzano: 1-3
Kiranya Tipirneni: 1-5

"Overall, we played very well and competed well against fine competition." Wood added. "The girls also had a lot of fun and are ready to enter the dual match portion of the fall season."

The Rams are back in action on Saturday, Sept. 29 when they host Saint Joseph's at Noon.