The Geneseo women’s tennis team continued their season with a 9-0 win over SUNY Fredonia on Sept. 22, but lost a difficult match to the University of Rochester on Sept. 28, 3-6.
Geneseo dominated all three doubles matches against Fredonia, winning each by a score of 8-0. Seniors Monica Vieth and Julia Passik improved to 6-0 in doubles competition on the season in first doubles. Freshman sisters Shiho and Kaho Sato won second doubles and seniors Lauren Johnson and Reggie Connelly took third doubles.
“Our doubles strategy is to be at the net where making shots is easy,” head coach Jim Chen said. “We strive to control the game at the net and we’ve been successful so far.”
Geneseo controlled the singles portion of the match as well. Vieth won first singles, 6-0, 6-0, to remain undefeated on the season. Passik took second singles, Shiho Sato claimed third singles, junior Katie Talbot won fourth singles, 6-1, 6-2, freshman Amanda Rosati took fifth singles, 6-2, 6-0 and freshman Courtney Sokol won sixth singles without giving up a single game.
“Our players are playing and contributing at the positions they are playing,” Chen said.
It was the Knights’ fifth consecutive 9-0 win and they have outscored their opponents 52-2 on the season. Chen believes the team still has room to improve and wants them to reach their peak around the time of the SUNYAC championships.
“Our practices are geared to finding areas we aren’t as strong in,” Chen said. “This team is not complacent. We realize tough matches are ahead of us. But the team’s confidence has gotten higher, which is a good thing.”
On Sept. 28 the Knights suffered their first loss at the hands of the University of Rochester, 3-6. Vieth and Passik lost a tough match 8-9 (2) at first doubles, while Vieth couldn’t close in first singles either, falling 5-7, 7-6 (4), 10-3 in the super tiebreak. Bright spots for Geneseo included Connelly and Johnson who prevailed in third doubles, 9-8 (6). Freshman Amanda Rosati and junior Sarah Shields also won at sixth singles, 6-3, 7-5 and 6-0, 6-2, respectively.
“It was a tough loss,” said Connelly. “We played as well as we could … they were a really tough team and we’re still really proud of what we accomplished; we’re still confident going into SUNYACs.”
The Knights host SUNY Cortland on Sept. 30 before going on the road to the Rochester Institute of Technology on Oct. 4 for their last match before the SUNYAC championships.