Women’s Tennis Update

by Will Murphy '23 on April 21, 2022
Sports Co-Editor

Friar Sports

As the Big East Championship approaches for the Providence College Tennis Team, now is a perfect time to look back and reflect on the Friars’ season thus far. The team is looking forward to traveling to Cayce, SC to compete for the Big East Championship April 21-24.

They are led by head coach Orsi Golovics, who is in her first year serving as head coach of the Friars.

Prior to arriving in Providence, Golovics starred for Northern Arizona University, where she earned First Team All-Big Sky accolades on three occasions. After graduating and earning her degrees in business administration and marketing from Northern Arizona, she began her first stint as an assistant coach there.

After her time at Northern Arizona, she served as an assistant coach at Cardinal Stritch University, while she earned her Master of Science degree in sports management. Cardinal Stritch enjoyed great success during her tenure there, as the team was ranked in the top-10 in the NAIA and reached the national championship. Following her time at Cardinal Stritch, she returned to Northern Arizona from 2016-17.

Under Golovics, the Friars have been able to make significant improvements from last year, building off some early season success as they topped Colgate University 4-3 in their spring opener on Feb. 12. Improvements are especially important considering the team consists primarily of underclassmen—five freshmen and four juniors —and they will be returning their entire roster for next year.

The team has also benefited from the strong leadership of captains Katie Mulvey ’23 and Vannelie Melendez ’23. In their opening win over Colgate University, Julia Migliorini ’23, Olivia Wright ’25, Mulvey, and Emmie Lindholm ’23 were able to earn the doubles point for the Friars. They were able to close out the victory thanks to points from singles victories from Migliorini, Mulvey, and Lauren Carson ’25.

The Friars’ next victory came in a home match against Merrimack College, on March 4, when they notched a 5-2 victory. In the win, PC controlled five of the six singles matches to earn the victory. Wright, Migliorini, Mulvey, Carson, and Morgan Warner ’25 all won their singles matches to secure the victory for the Friars.

After a couple of tough outcomes, the Friars were able to get themselves back in the win column in a big way against University of New Haven on March 26, with a 7-0 sweep. The win was a commanding one, as the Friars were able to take all the singles matches in straight sets.

The following day the team took on Quinnipiac University, and despite earning the doubles point to get out to a fast start, they were unable to hold on as Quinnipiac got the best of them in the singles matches.

The Friars were able to bounce back nicely their next time out against Bentley University on March 31. Providence took command early by sweeping the doubles matches to earn the doubles point. The singles matches also went Providence’s way, winning all but one of them in straight sets. Carson was particularly dominant, beating her opponent 6-0, 6-0 to earn a point for the Friars.

After back-to-back losses against Georgetown University and University of Connecticut the Friars would face the College of the Holy Cross on April 10, in their penultimate match of the regular season. It was one of the best of the season for the team, as they notched their third 7-0 victory of the season.

After dropping the final match of the season to St. John’s University, the team has begun to prepare for the Big East Championship.