MEN'S BOX SCORE
WOMEN'S BOX SCORE
West Hartford, Conn. – The University of Hartford men's and women's tennis teams each picked up their first dual match victories of the season on Wednesday over the Springfield College Pride. The men's team played to a 7-0 shutout on their home court, while the women's team provided a nail biter, but came away with a 4-3 victory.
The women's match came down to the final two singles matches of the afternoon as the Hawks trailed 3-2 heading into those decision. Rookie's Jessica Galik and Christie Greenberg stayed strong in their first collegiate singles matches with Galik providing the match tying point and Greenberg the clinching point at sixth singles.
Springfield opened the women's match by taking home the doubles point with victories in the second and third positions. The Hawks Abby Liu and Katina Zampas won at first singles, defeating Sam Carney and Jen Cleary by an 8-2 score. The Pride's Erin Woodbury and Sydney Streimer combined for an 8-6 victory in the second position over Haley Gileau and Ashley Harel, while Emily Willhoft and Greenberg dropped the third doubles match by an 8-4 score to Siana Green and Vanessa Senecal.
Liu and Zampas continued their success with victories at first and third singles, respectively. Liu took down Carney in straight sets of 6-0, 6-1, while Zampas defeated Woodbury by scores of 6-4, 7-6(3). The Pride took points at second and fourth singles, leaving the Hawks two rookies to battle for victory. Harel dropped her second singles point to Cleary by scores of 7-6(2), 6-4 and Gileau dropped the fourth singles point to Galik by scores of 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Galik and Greenberg came through in the clutch with Galik defeating Streimer at the fifth singles position 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and Greenberg battling from a 0-1 deficit to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“I couldn't be more proud of how our two teams fought and rallied around each other today,” said first year head coach Mike Louis.
On the men's side, the Hawks took home victories in all three doubles matches and swept the singles matches for their first shutout of the year. Aneil Bhalla and Josh Isaacson made up the Hawks first doubles team, which took home an 8-2 victory over Ben Burnap and Doug Nickerson. At second doubles, Marco Neves and Michael Kennelly partnered up to defeat Springfield's Kyle Meresereau and Zach O'Leary by an 8-3 final. Finally, at this doubles, Edgardo Ureta and Bogdan Nedelcu combined to defeat Zac Goldstein and Joe Gianelli by a final score of 8-5.
In singles play, Neves, Kennelly, Eric Floum, Ureta and Nedelcu all scored straight-set victories in their respective matches. Neves played at the number one position for the home team, defeating Burnap by scores of 6-3, 6-2. Kennelly took home his first singles victory as a Hawk in the number two position with final scores of 6-2, 6-1.
In third singles, Isaacson needed a third set super breaker to decide the point as he defeated O'Leary by final scores of 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-5. Floum, Ureta and Nedelcu made up the fourth, fifth and sixth singles for Hartford. Floum defeated Nickerson by scores of 6-3, 6-4. Ureta took down the Gianelli by scores of 7-5, 6-0 and Nedelcu defeated Sean Seifert by scores of 6-0, 6-2.
The women's team will next compete in a tournament format event at the Quinnipiac Invitational this weekend, before joining the men for the next dual match on September 20 at Siena. The Hawks and Saints are scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m.
