University of Massachusets Athletics

Tennis Prepares For Regional Rival UConn
April 02, 2019 | Tennis
Minutewomen head to the Huskies on Wednesday afternoon
University of Massachusetts tennis continues its rivalry with the University of Connecticut with a trip to the Huskies' home courts in Storrs, Connecticut, on Wednesday afternoon. Doubles play will begin at 3 p.m.
The Minutewomen won the last two meetings - one each in 2016-17 and 2017-18 - and are victors in 12 of the last 13 meetings since the 2005-06 campaign. The Minutewomen tamed the Huskies one year ago, 4-3, with Janja Kovacevic providing the match-deciding point at No. 3 singles.
Last Time Out: Massachusetts 6, Saint Joseph's 1
Massachusets tennis returned to its winning ways with a 6-1 victory over Saint Joseph's at the Bay Road Tennis Club. The victory improved head coach Juancarlos Nunez's team to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic 10. Saint Joseph's dropped to 1-12 with the loss and 0-5 in league action.
The Minutewomen took the doubles point in quick fashion with clean sweeps at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Jodie Lawrence-Taylor and Anna Napadiy downed Alex Kramer and Paige Conrad 6-0 while Ruth Crawford and Ashley Avery achieved the same success against Laura Gomez and Katherine Devlin.
Massachusetts sealed the team victory with consecutive match wins at No. 2-4 during singles play. Lawrence-Taylor collected a 6-0, 6-2 win over Isis Gill-Reid at No. 2 while Crawford downed Gomez 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3. Martina Bocchi added a 6-1, 6-2 score over Conrad to the team's ledger.
With the victory secured, Massachusetts tallied two additional match wins at No. 5 and No. 6. Napadiy downed Kramer 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 before Bogicevic capped the afternoon with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over Devlin at No. 6.
Kovacevic, Lawrence-Taylor Win A-10 Weekly Awards Again
Janja Kovacevic earned Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week and freshman Jodie Lawrence-Taylor totaled her third A-10 Rookie of the Week Award, as announced by the league office on Tuesday. Kovacevic shared the honor with Duquesne's Laurel Shymansky for her second in a row after Kovacevic took home the Feb. 19 accolade individually.
Kovacevic produced a dominant weekend in leading UMass to a pair of comfortable victories over Quinnipiac, 7-0, and LIU Brooklyn, 6-1. Kovacevic started her weekend on Saturday with a 6-0 shutout of Quinnipiac's top doubles pairing alongside her playing partner, Martina Bocchi, followed by a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of QU's best singles player and the 2018 MAAC Player & Rookie of the Year, Dominique Vasile, en route to the team's shutout win.
Against LIU Brooklyn, the Zemun, Serbia product and Bocchi notched a tiebreaker victory, 7-5, at No. 1 doubles before the junior produced a 6-4, 6-4 triumph at No. 1 singles over Anna Grigoryan, the 2017 & 2018 NEC Player of the Year.
Lawrence-Taylor held down the No. 2 doubles spot alongside Anna Napadiy and the No. 2 singles spot en route to a 4-0 week. The London native only dropped one doubles game and did not drop a singles set during the weekend, in which the Minutewomen faced the 2018 MAAC Champions (Quinnipiac) and the 2018 NEC Champions (LIU Brooklyn).
The freshman downed Quinnipiac's No. 2 doubles pairing, 6-1 and provided a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles over Jennifer Lu, the MAAC Championship Most Outstanding Performer in 2018. Lawrence-Taylor kickstarted the team's win over LIU Brooklyn's with a sweep of the Blackbirds' No. 2 doubles pair, 6-0, alongside Napadiy, before providing the decisive fourth team point with her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jessica Brzozowska, who won All-NEC First Team in 2018.
Massachusetts Sweeps A-10 Weekly Awards Following Back-To-Back Dominant Efforts
Junior Janja Kovacevic and freshman Jodie Lawrence-Taylor swept the Atlantic 10 Conference weekly women's tennis accolades with Kovacevic named the player of the week and Lawrence-Taylor the rookie of the week, as announced by the league office on Wednesday. It marks Kovacevic's first A-10 Player of the Week accolade of the year and Lawrence-Taylor's second rookie laurel in three weeks.
UMass tennis claimed identical 6-1 wins at Binghamton and at Marist College on Sat., Feb. 9 and Sun., Feb. 10, respectively, as Kovacevic notched three individual victories in as many matches played. Kovacevic won alongside Martina Bocchi at No. 1 doubles against Binghamton and Marist by 6-0 and 6-2 margins, respectively. In singles, Kovacevic played at No. 1 against Binghamton's top player, Samantha Eisenberg, and posted a 6-2, 6-0 win.
Lawrence-Taylor also collected three wins on the weekend, two at doubles and one at singles. She teamed with Anna Napadiy for a pair of wins at No. 2 doubles, 6-2 over Binghamton and 6-0 at Marist. Lawrence-Taylor completed the perfect day at Marist with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of the Red Foxes' top competitor at No. 1 singles.
UMass Tennis Receives Grant Recognizing ITA Community Service Commitment
• University of Massachusetts tennis received unique recognition from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for its civic commitment as one of only three programs nationally to earn ITA Community Service Month grants on Wednesday, as announced by the ITA.
• All teams that performed 20-plus hours of community service were entered in a drawing, where the team selected received a $500 ITA grant and the University of Massachusetts team took home the prize. During the month of October, the team was involved in assisting Habitat for Humanity.
• In addition to the University of Massachusetts' grant, the College of Charleston team won the Limoneira Hours Challenge while the University of Alabama Birmingham generated the most social media engagement and earned an ITA grant as a result.
Shiran Arol Wiegand Joins UMass Tennis Family
• The University of Massachusetts tennis and head coach Juancarlos Nunez announced the signing of Shiran Arol Wiegand to a National Letter of Intent on Nov. 19, 2018. An accomplished competitor in her native Israel as well as internationally, Arol Wiegand joins the program following two years of military service in her home country.
• Ranked as high as 618 in the ITF Juniors highlighted by reaching the Singles Final of the ITF G4 in Bat Yam, Israel, Arol Wiegand rached No. 2 in the Israeli Junior rankings and No. 8 in the Israeli Women's rankings. Additionally, she represented Israel in the Maccabiah World Games, winning the silver in mixed doubles in 2017, and is currently serving in the Israeli Army before she starts at UMass in the Fall, 2019.
Landmark Success For Massachusetts Dots ITA Northeast Regional Outcomes
• Massachusetts tennis sent four competitors to the 2018 holding of the ITA Northeast Regional at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, which included trips to the singles bracket Round of 16 by Janja Kovacevic and Jodie Lawrence-Taylor.Â
• Kovacevic avoided the first round thanks to her No. 22 seeding for the tournament, and bested Princeton's Nathalie Rodilosso as well as No. 11 Jennifer Kerr from Columbia to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Lawrence-Taylor needed three wins to reach the final 16 spots as she outperformed Quinnipiac's Dominique Vasile (first round), the No. 14 seed in Columbia's Melissa Sakar (second round) and No. 19 seed Natasha Irani from Boston College (round of 32).
Back For Another Round
• Massachusetts returns eight members from its 2017-18 squad, including senior Ruth Crawford, juniors Ashley Avery, Martina Bocchi, Tami Comins and Janja Kovacevic and sophomores Jovana Bogicevic, Sarah Mezini and Anna Napadiy. Crawford, the team's captain, was an Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team selection as a junior one year ago while Kovacevic earned second team accolades as a sophomore.
• The returnees include four of the six primary singles competitors from last season in the No. 1 (Crawford), No. 3 (Kovacevic), No. 5 (Napadiy) and No. 6 (Bocchi) players. Crawford and Kovacevic were also primarily paired at No. 2 doubles while Napadiy played alongside Avery at No. 3 doubles.Â
The Minutewomen won the last two meetings - one each in 2016-17 and 2017-18 - and are victors in 12 of the last 13 meetings since the 2005-06 campaign. The Minutewomen tamed the Huskies one year ago, 4-3, with Janja Kovacevic providing the match-deciding point at No. 3 singles.
Last Time Out: Massachusetts 6, Saint Joseph's 1
Massachusets tennis returned to its winning ways with a 6-1 victory over Saint Joseph's at the Bay Road Tennis Club. The victory improved head coach Juancarlos Nunez's team to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic 10. Saint Joseph's dropped to 1-12 with the loss and 0-5 in league action.
The Minutewomen took the doubles point in quick fashion with clean sweeps at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Jodie Lawrence-Taylor and Anna Napadiy downed Alex Kramer and Paige Conrad 6-0 while Ruth Crawford and Ashley Avery achieved the same success against Laura Gomez and Katherine Devlin.
Massachusetts sealed the team victory with consecutive match wins at No. 2-4 during singles play. Lawrence-Taylor collected a 6-0, 6-2 win over Isis Gill-Reid at No. 2 while Crawford downed Gomez 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3. Martina Bocchi added a 6-1, 6-2 score over Conrad to the team's ledger.
With the victory secured, Massachusetts tallied two additional match wins at No. 5 and No. 6. Napadiy downed Kramer 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 before Bogicevic capped the afternoon with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over Devlin at No. 6.
Kovacevic, Lawrence-Taylor Win A-10 Weekly Awards Again
Janja Kovacevic earned Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week and freshman Jodie Lawrence-Taylor totaled her third A-10 Rookie of the Week Award, as announced by the league office on Tuesday. Kovacevic shared the honor with Duquesne's Laurel Shymansky for her second in a row after Kovacevic took home the Feb. 19 accolade individually.
Kovacevic produced a dominant weekend in leading UMass to a pair of comfortable victories over Quinnipiac, 7-0, and LIU Brooklyn, 6-1. Kovacevic started her weekend on Saturday with a 6-0 shutout of Quinnipiac's top doubles pairing alongside her playing partner, Martina Bocchi, followed by a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of QU's best singles player and the 2018 MAAC Player & Rookie of the Year, Dominique Vasile, en route to the team's shutout win.
Against LIU Brooklyn, the Zemun, Serbia product and Bocchi notched a tiebreaker victory, 7-5, at No. 1 doubles before the junior produced a 6-4, 6-4 triumph at No. 1 singles over Anna Grigoryan, the 2017 & 2018 NEC Player of the Year.
Lawrence-Taylor held down the No. 2 doubles spot alongside Anna Napadiy and the No. 2 singles spot en route to a 4-0 week. The London native only dropped one doubles game and did not drop a singles set during the weekend, in which the Minutewomen faced the 2018 MAAC Champions (Quinnipiac) and the 2018 NEC Champions (LIU Brooklyn).
The freshman downed Quinnipiac's No. 2 doubles pairing, 6-1 and provided a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles over Jennifer Lu, the MAAC Championship Most Outstanding Performer in 2018. Lawrence-Taylor kickstarted the team's win over LIU Brooklyn's with a sweep of the Blackbirds' No. 2 doubles pair, 6-0, alongside Napadiy, before providing the decisive fourth team point with her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jessica Brzozowska, who won All-NEC First Team in 2018.
Massachusetts Sweeps A-10 Weekly Awards Following Back-To-Back Dominant Efforts
Junior Janja Kovacevic and freshman Jodie Lawrence-Taylor swept the Atlantic 10 Conference weekly women's tennis accolades with Kovacevic named the player of the week and Lawrence-Taylor the rookie of the week, as announced by the league office on Wednesday. It marks Kovacevic's first A-10 Player of the Week accolade of the year and Lawrence-Taylor's second rookie laurel in three weeks.
UMass tennis claimed identical 6-1 wins at Binghamton and at Marist College on Sat., Feb. 9 and Sun., Feb. 10, respectively, as Kovacevic notched three individual victories in as many matches played. Kovacevic won alongside Martina Bocchi at No. 1 doubles against Binghamton and Marist by 6-0 and 6-2 margins, respectively. In singles, Kovacevic played at No. 1 against Binghamton's top player, Samantha Eisenberg, and posted a 6-2, 6-0 win.
Lawrence-Taylor also collected three wins on the weekend, two at doubles and one at singles. She teamed with Anna Napadiy for a pair of wins at No. 2 doubles, 6-2 over Binghamton and 6-0 at Marist. Lawrence-Taylor completed the perfect day at Marist with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of the Red Foxes' top competitor at No. 1 singles.
UMass Tennis Receives Grant Recognizing ITA Community Service Commitment
• University of Massachusetts tennis received unique recognition from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for its civic commitment as one of only three programs nationally to earn ITA Community Service Month grants on Wednesday, as announced by the ITA.
• All teams that performed 20-plus hours of community service were entered in a drawing, where the team selected received a $500 ITA grant and the University of Massachusetts team took home the prize. During the month of October, the team was involved in assisting Habitat for Humanity.
• In addition to the University of Massachusetts' grant, the College of Charleston team won the Limoneira Hours Challenge while the University of Alabama Birmingham generated the most social media engagement and earned an ITA grant as a result.
Shiran Arol Wiegand Joins UMass Tennis Family
• The University of Massachusetts tennis and head coach Juancarlos Nunez announced the signing of Shiran Arol Wiegand to a National Letter of Intent on Nov. 19, 2018. An accomplished competitor in her native Israel as well as internationally, Arol Wiegand joins the program following two years of military service in her home country.
• Ranked as high as 618 in the ITF Juniors highlighted by reaching the Singles Final of the ITF G4 in Bat Yam, Israel, Arol Wiegand rached No. 2 in the Israeli Junior rankings and No. 8 in the Israeli Women's rankings. Additionally, she represented Israel in the Maccabiah World Games, winning the silver in mixed doubles in 2017, and is currently serving in the Israeli Army before she starts at UMass in the Fall, 2019.
Landmark Success For Massachusetts Dots ITA Northeast Regional Outcomes
• Massachusetts tennis sent four competitors to the 2018 holding of the ITA Northeast Regional at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, which included trips to the singles bracket Round of 16 by Janja Kovacevic and Jodie Lawrence-Taylor.Â
• Kovacevic avoided the first round thanks to her No. 22 seeding for the tournament, and bested Princeton's Nathalie Rodilosso as well as No. 11 Jennifer Kerr from Columbia to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Lawrence-Taylor needed three wins to reach the final 16 spots as she outperformed Quinnipiac's Dominique Vasile (first round), the No. 14 seed in Columbia's Melissa Sakar (second round) and No. 19 seed Natasha Irani from Boston College (round of 32).
Back For Another Round
• Massachusetts returns eight members from its 2017-18 squad, including senior Ruth Crawford, juniors Ashley Avery, Martina Bocchi, Tami Comins and Janja Kovacevic and sophomores Jovana Bogicevic, Sarah Mezini and Anna Napadiy. Crawford, the team's captain, was an Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team selection as a junior one year ago while Kovacevic earned second team accolades as a sophomore.
• The returnees include four of the six primary singles competitors from last season in the No. 1 (Crawford), No. 3 (Kovacevic), No. 5 (Napadiy) and No. 6 (Bocchi) players. Crawford and Kovacevic were also primarily paired at No. 2 doubles while Napadiy played alongside Avery at No. 3 doubles.Â
Players Mentioned
Tennis Highlights vs. Binghamton (01/26/20)
Sunday, January 26
Tennis Highlights vs. Fordham (04/19/19)
Friday, April 19
UMass vs. Rhode Island Tennis Highlights (04/18/19)
Thursday, April 18
Tennis Highlights vs. GW (03/30/19)
Saturday, March 30