by The Cowl Editor on February 28, 2019
Friar Sports
By Cam Smith ’21
Sports Staff
The Providence College Women’s Tennis Team came into last week looking for their first victory of the spring season. Unfortunately, they will have to wait a little longer for a win.
The University of Rhode Island stopped by the Centre Court Tennis Club on Wednesday, February 20 to face off against PC. Although the Rams would go on to defeat the Friars by a score of 6-1, there were still some exciting moments out on the clay.
Namely, the Friars came up just short of claiming the doubles point, obtained by winning a majority of the three doubles matches. Haley Gurski ’22 and Aidan Epstein ’20 were felled by the Rams in the number two doubles slot, but PC’s number three doubles duo of Grace Goyette ’21 and Natalie Pitocco ’20 picked up a well-deserved 6-4 win. It all came down to savvy veteran Risa Takenaka ’19 and her partner Sera Satowski ’21, who were playing out of the number one slot, but the duo were unable to pull out a back and forth match against the top seeded Ram twosome.
Over on the singles side, Takenaka again engaged in a tight battle against Rams number one Erin Chratian, but fell in the match 6-4, 7-5. Gurski also played a tremendous game out of the four spot. After falling 6-1 in the first set, she stormed back with a 6-3 set win, before finally coming up just short in a wild third set, 10-8. The lone Friar point of the day would come from Mimi Dailey ’22 in the six slot, as the freshman played two close sets before dominating the third set, 10-3.
Two days after their bout with URI, the Friars welcomed Hofstra University to Providence for a match. PC went winless as the Herd swept both the doubles and singles matches. Takenaka faced stiff competition out of the first slot, but played a solid first set against Hofstra’s Alejandra Ruffini before losing steam in her second set. Dailey was back at it again with a very competitive match in the number six singles spot and was the sole Friar on the day to force a third set. Sadly, like her teammates before her, she would end up on the losing end of the match, with a score of 6-2, 7-6, 10-3.
PC will now set their sights on the Bryant University Bulldogs as a March 2 clash between the Rhode Island colleges looms large on the calendar.