Tennis Heads To West Point For Three-Way Match

Feb. 16, 2011

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass tennis team (3-2) packs its bags for three days in West Point, N.Y. for a three-way match between the Army Black Knights (5-2), Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (2-2), and Bryant Bulldogs (1-1), starting with Army on Friday, Feb. 18 at the Lichtenberg tennis center at 1 p.m. Currently, Army is ahead in the all-time series vs. the UMass tennis team, 11-4, with the last match occurring on Mar. 1, 2009 as Army came up victorious, 4-3. As for Fairleigh Dickinson, this will be the second match between these two teams, with the last match on Feb. 27, 2009 resulting in a 6-1 win in favor of the UMass tennis team. Finally for Bryant, this will be the first match between both teams on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 9 a.m.

The Newcomers
The trio of Yuliana Motyl (Toronto, Ontario), Clara Matias (Barcelona, Spain) and Jessica Podlofsky (Port Washington, N.Y.) joined the Minutewomen this fall for the 2010-11 season. Motyl has been ranked as high as 511th on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) world junior rankings, Matias has been ranked as high as 48th in the Spanish National Ranking and Podlofsky is currently 154th on the tennis recruiting national rankings for the 2010 class.

During the fall season, Podlofsky started out strong, grabbing the Eastern Collegiate Invitational Championship in Flight D. On the season, she is 2-0 in doubles matches and 1-2 in singles matches, ranging anywhere from the #5 to #6 singles. As for Matias, she has grabbed a victory in both her #3 and #4 singles matches, and is 3-2 on the season. Motyl is playing tough competition at #1 and #2 singles and is looking to improve on her 0-4 start.

Tennis Predicted 5th in A-10
The UMass Tennis team is predicted to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 according to the conference's preseason poll released on Monday. The group finished fifth in the conference tournament last season, and is looking to build from their strong fall 2-0 start in dual matches.

Richmond has been picked to repeat as A-10 championships after taking home its sixth title in the past seven seasons a year ago. George Washington, who fell in the conference title game last year, has been tabbed second this year, followed by Temple.

Black Knights, Knights, and Bulldogs, OH MY!
Army comes into the three-way match, 5-1, with wins over Seton Hall, Marist, Sacred Heart, Connecticut, and Fordham. The team's success can be highlighted with its No. 1 singles player, senior Annie Houghton, who comes into the match with an impressive, 5-1, in the spring season. Along with Houghton, her teammate, freshmen Jamila Paul, is also 5-1 overall in the spring season and 4-1 in her No. 3 singles matches.

Fairleigh Dickinson begins the spring season at 2-2, with wins over Seton Hall and St. Joseph's, 6-1. The knight's success has been through their top five singles players, including their No.1 player junior Elmine Botes, who is 2-2 in her spring season as well.

The Bryant Bulldogs on the season are 4-1 overall (3-0 NEC) looking to ride its four-game winning streak, first against Army on Saturday then against UMass on Sunday. The Bulldogs key player to watch out for is its No.1 singles player, sophomore Claudia Hidalgo, who comes into the match 4-1 as well. In her four consecutive wins, she has convincingly won in straight sets without giving up more than 3 points in a set.

Streaming Video
UMass is proud to announce that we will be providing the public with our first UMass Tennis TV broadcast on March 27 against Fairfield. You can watch this broadcast on Comcast's channel 293 and on Charter's channel 230.

Guide to Collegiate Tennis
Order of Events
 Three doubles matches are played, followed by six singles matches
 Each team ranks its singles players from No. 1 to No.6 and its doubles teams from No. 1 to No. 3
 Players will match up by rank: No. 1 v. No.1, No. 2 v. No. 2, etc.

Team Scoring
 Seven total points are available
 The six singles matches are each composed of up to three six-game sets; the first player to win two sets earns a point for his team
 The three doubles matches are each composed of one eight-game set; the team that wins at least two of the three doubles matches earns the one available doubles point
 Under normal circumstances, all matches will be played, even if one team has already earned the four points needed to win.

General Tennis Scoring
 Games consist of four points: 15,30,40, and Game
 Each game must be won by two points
 If the game score is tied at 40-40, a player must win the next rally to earn "Advantage", then the next point to earn "Game"; otherwise, the score returns to 40-40
 Singles sets must be won by two games; however, if the score reaches 6-6, one tiebreaker game is played

Next Up
The UMass tennis team will continue their spring season on Tuesday, Feb. 22 to face Connecticut at the University of Connecticut Tennis Center in Storrs, Conn.

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics

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