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University of Massachusets Athletics
Behind The Masses • UMass Tennis Blog • Entry #4
September 28, 2019 | Tennis
Jodie Lawrence-Taylor covers the first day of the Yale Invitational
SAT., SEPT. 28 • ENTRY NO. 4
Starting our weekend at the Yale Invitational against two of the strongest teams in the region was certainly a challenge. Yale and Boston College have stellar programmes which have remained at the top of the Northeast for many years, so to compete with them, we were going to require a tenacious attitude and unyielding spirit.The day began against Yale, a team renowned for their doubles play. This year, their top duo achieved an ITA preseason ranking of No. 29 in the nation; it was clearly going to be an arduous task to defeat them. Unfortunately, UMass was simply not prepared enough to face the onslaught of Yale, as they defeated us in three of the four doubles ties played. Janja Kovacevic and Martina Bocchi put up a strong fight against their No. 1 pairing, truly making them work for the victory and only losing out by a couple of missed opportunities at deuce.
Anna Napadiy and I, and Ashley Avery and Jasmin Tripathy had rough days on the court; none of us were at our best and it was a struggle to match the extreme pace of the Yale teams when we felt slightly lethargic. Commendations are required for Jovana Bogicevic and Shiran Arol Wiegand who came through a tight match to achieve victory 7-6 (3) and lift the spirits of the UMass team. This shift in momentum was a great way to lead into our singles where the performances of our team drastically improved.
Singles started off at 2:15 p.m., with the sun glaring down onto the courts and causing blistering heat. Everything was tinted with a strange shimmer, making it rather hard to keep track of the ball and see the lines of the court. We did not let that stop us though as we got to work, going toe-to-toe with our opposition and battling hard. Shiran was the first to finish, leaving the court with a staggering 6-2 6-1 win. Her quality of tennis was too high for her opponent to match so she was off of the court quickly and immediately began cheering for her teammates who were locked in the midst of battle.
Jasmin and Ashley were next off and sadly were unable to find a way through their opposition. Isolated from the rest of the team whilst playing, it was a tough ask to find victory. The next 4 matches also slipped our grasp, even though they were incredibly hard fought contests. Jo went down 7-6 (2) 6-0 to BC's No. 2 from last Fall, whilst I fell 6-4 7-6 (5) at No. 2 in a match that was decided by a mere 4 points. Both of our oppositions proved too much and, despite our fight, found the lines too often for us to handle. Anna and Martina managed to push their opponents into third sets but were unable to find that last gear needed to come out on top. Only Janja was left, trapped in a tussle for the third set against Natasha Irani. Thanks to her relentless fight, the final match of the day went our way, with Janja claiming the final set 6-3.
A couple of years ago, we would have admitted defeat before even stepping onto the court when playing Boston College. They were simply too good for us to compete with. Today was different. Today we showed them that we are also one of the best in the region and will not go down without a fight. The results may not have gone our way today but we proved a serious challenge for this strong team and have proved to them, and ourselves, that we are right there with them. Next time those tight matches will swing our way and we will come out on top; we just have to keep working hard and believing in ourselves.
- Jodie Annie Lawrence-Taylor, sophomore, UMass tennis
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