After a six-day break from competition, the women’s tennis team defeated University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 4-3, Saturday. The team won four out of its six singles matches, while the team failed to record a doubles win.
Freshmen Alina Abdurakhimova (6-2, 6-2), Yana Khon (6-3, 6-4) and Monet Stuckey-Willis each dominated in straight sets to defeat their opponents in singles play while sophomore Anais Nussaume had to fight hard to earn her singles point, but prevailed in her three-set match 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
In doubles play, the Owls failed to win a match, unable to secure the doubles point. Coach Steve Mauro said the doubles performance wasn’t the team’s best and it needs some work.
“Unfortunately, as a team our doubles play struggled,” Mauro said. “We need to get to the net more and stop playing from the baseline. It is important to finish the point and we aren’t doing that … we need to be more aggressive instead of hanging back.”
With the time off, the Owls had some time to assess where they stand as a team. During the break, team had a specific plan to improve.
“Over our time off, we worked a lot on baseline points,” Mauro said. “Working on those types of points helped our singles play, which helped us come out of the match on top today.”
The baseline points were important for Mauro and his team Saturday, but Nassaume’s singles match was important to the outcome of the match. She played a variety of different shots that enabled her to win, Mauro said.
“I was happy with the variety of shots the girls were playing,” Mauro said. “The girls were playing their flat, hard and topspin shots well, and that is something that we have been working on at practice. [Anais] had a strong singles match, she used all of the tools she had to win. She was the example in the match of what we have been working on at practice.”
The Owls (4-2) will travel to Rutgers for a Sunday match at 2 p.m.
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