UMass Tennis Blog • Fri., Sept. 13 • Entry #1 - University of Massachusetts Athletics

Fri., Sept. 13, 2019 • Entry No. 1

Two Claim First Wins For UMass Tennis

    I'd like to begin my first article with a disclaimer: I am British and very tired. American spelling is not my forte and I am also writing this after our first day of competition this Fall, so please forgive me if I come across too English - I promise I'm not trying to. We are contributing to our online presence this season to make things more personal, so that we can engage with our committed supporters and hopefully reach out to new people wishing to invest in our programme (no I do not mean financially, but if you're offering we could use an indoor tennis centre). So, without further adieu, let me introduce myself: my name is Jodie Annie Lawrence-Taylor and I am a sophomore on the UMass Tennis team who will be contributing to the articles online, aiming to help you get to know us as individuals, keep you updated on our endeavours and hopefully make you laugh from time to time.

    As previously mentioned, today was our first day of competition. This year, Brown tennis decided to incorporate a different format into their invitational. Five teams were invited and had to split their players into mini-teams of two. These mini-teams were then entered into one of two flights, each made up of eight pairs, or a singles draw. To progress, a pair must win two of three from one doubles and two singles matches. In Flight A we had our number one doubles pair from last season, Janja Kovacevic and Martina Bocchi, as well as our most consistent duo, Anna Napadiy and myself. Representing us in Flight B was our new pairing, Ashley Avery and Shiran Arol Wiegand, and my personal favourite players to watch, Jovana Bogicevic and Jasmin Tripathy. Sarah Mezini and Tami Comins would fight it out for us in the Flight C singles draw. It's safe to say that nerves were high, with all of us incredibly eager to start the year off as we mean to continue it: in a winning fashion. I am pleased to announce that we were successful, being the only school to have all of their pairings progress to the semi-finals!

    Things appeared a little shaky at first due to first match jitters. The passionate support and competitive spirit that we are revered for was certainly lacking to begin with. Tentative at first, a few of us ventured out and began to cheer, even growing confident enough to risk a fist pump (or lawnmower in my case). Slowly we began to settle and the familiar ruckus enveloped us, filling us all with the determination and fire we needed to succeed. Anna and I got the first win of the day under our belts with a 6-4 victory over Paripovic and McCann from Dartmouth. It wasn't the prettiest match but we did a lot of scrambling around the court so I think we deserved the win for our effort. Ashley and Shiran followed next with a gutsy 7-6 win against the duo of Bekirova and Sreeves from Stony Brook. Not a bad start to Shiran's career at UMass, right? Janja and Martina were unfortunately bested 7-5 by Wei and Pam from Stony Brook, but we love a good comeback here at UMass tennis so it was all good. Jo and Jasmin got their doubles underway later in the day but still came out victorious against a crafty pairing of Reddy and Sheinin from Brown. It's always tough playing the home favourites, but our girls' belief and fight never wavered, earning them an impressive 6-2 win. Both should be commended for overcoming adversities in this match, but I must give a special mention to Jo for her wonderful comeback when a questionable call was made on her serve:

Jo: "Duuuuuuuude that was like two metres in!"
Opponent: "Well sorry I don't know what metres are so…"
Jo: "How did you make it to college if you don't know what metres are?"

Good work Jo, I couldn't be prouder.

    Next came the singles where we were thrown straight into the deep end; six out of ten singles went the distance, which was not ideal in the heat of the day ("the UV is only 4," Anna said, "no one will get burnt, except maybe Jodie." She was wrong, many of us burnt and I fried). However, we overcame all adversities and managed to triumph in every three-setter that we played. Janja and Martina decided to make their first round as dramatic as possible, with both pulling through in three sets to secure their fight back. Some sublime attitude was shown by this pairing as they both battled through their matches, whilst lifting the morale of all others competing. Anna and I backed up our doubles thanks to some smart play from Anna which saw her fend off a tenacious opponent 6-0, 7-5, whilst I prevailed in a tiebreak third set. In Flight B, Shiran secured her pair's progression into the semi-finals with a confident 6-2, 6-3 win. Even though she was playing her first match for UMass, I think she may have been the calmest of us all and simply got the job done; I think she will be one to watch. Ashley then managed to back up the win with a third set victory, coming back from a set down and starting her senior year in the best way possible. Jasmin and Jo also managed to earn their place in the semi-final thanks to a marathon match from Jo which saw her fight back from a set down and, even though she wasn't playing her best tennis, find a way to win, truly showing everyone what a competitor she is. Jasmin put up a strong fight, but her opponent was just too strong on the day, as was Tami's in the singles draw. However, Sarah pulled through in three sets to claim her first victory for UMass. Utilising the lob she didn't know she had, Sarah battled hard and managed to defeat Stony Brook's number two player from when we played them this past Spring, 6-3, 5-7 (10-7). A huge congratulations to Shiran and Sarah for claiming their first wins for UMass tennis!

    Tomorrow we will be back out on the courts bright and early with play starting at 10:00 a.m., so for tonight I am signing off. I truly hope you have enjoyed gaining a little insight into our day and look forward to further updates on all platforms. Now I'm going to take a much needed rest and pray that my sunburn recovers. I'm all for wearing school colours but it would be lovely not to blend in with our outfit tomorrow...

- Jodie Annie Lawrence-Taylor, sophomore, UMass tennis

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