The Geneseo women's tennis team was met with success in a busy weekend, breezing through four matches in three days against four SUNYAC foes.
Despite the one-sided scores, head coach Jim Chen noted the "high level of tennis" the team faced.
The Lady Knights traveled to Syracuse on Friday to take on SUNY Plattsburgh, resulting in their third straight 9-0 victory. In first doubles, sophomores Monica Vieth and Julia Passik won by a score of 8-1. Sophomores Melissa Baker and Lauren Johnson won 8-3 in second doubles, with sophomore Katie Gayvert and freshman Sarah Shields rounding out doubles play with a score of 8-1.
All singles matches were decided in straight sets in Geneseo's favor. Vieth, who won Student Athlete of the Week honors last week, won first singles 6-1, 6-0 and senior Anna Lehet stood out with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout.
The next day, the team faced their closest match of the season but managed a solid 6-3 win over SUNY New Paltz. The Baker-Johnson combination turned in an 8-4 win in second doubles, while Gayvert and Shields took third doubles, 8-5.
Geneseo held a 2-1 lead heading into singles action, where Vieth continued to win followed by victories by Passik in the third spot, Lehet in the fourth and Shields in the sixth. Chen credited the high level of tennis for the closer score, but also noted a nagging injury to first doubles player Passik.
Saturday night the team traveled to the Binghamton Tennis Club to face off against SUNY Cortland. The Red Dragons were added to the growing list of teams swept away by the Lady Knights, this time by a score of 8-1.
Vieth and Passik got back on track in first doubles, winning 8-5 and setting the stage for a perfect 3-0 in doubles action. In singles play, Vieth, Passik, Lehet and Gayvert all turned in wins followed by a shutout by Shields in sixth singles.
The Lady Knights benefited from being a young, close-knit team. Senior Anna Lehet is the team's lone upperclassman. Playing with a sense of pride also helps, as Chen said his team "identifies with the institution that is so highly regarded, and we represent the college proudly."
In the fourth and final match of the weekend, Geneseo beat SUNY Oneonta 9-0. All of the doubles teams won, capped off by an 8-0 shutout by Gayvert and Shields in third doubles. Singles play saw more of the same, with Vieth winning first singles 6-4, 6-0 followed by Baker winning second singles 6-4, 6-0. Passik and Lehet won third and fourth singles by scores of 6-1, 7-5 and 6-2, 6-2. Gayvert won a fifth singles match which went to three games by a score of 7-6, (10-8), 6-4 and Shields finished out the weekend with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Finishing the weekend undefeated was no easy feat for Geneseo. Chen said he believes the competition was some of the strongest in the SUNYAC and that these wins are a "testament to the skill level of the team."
In the coming weeks, however, Geneseo will face non-conference foes such as Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester that will surely test the team. Chen said that despite having a clear strategy mapped out, the team needs to work on "sharpening stroke mechanics" if it is to meet the team goal of winning the SUNYAC tournament in October.