Tennis ties for 7th at A-10 Tournament

By: Evan Crawley

Posted: 4/23/08

04/23/08 - The sixth-seeded University of Rhode Island women's tennis team finished in a tie for seventh with Duquesne University at the Atlantic 10 Tournament in Monroeville, Pa., last weekend.

"We barely lost some matches that would have put us even higher, but overall it was a good outing," Rams head coach Sandy Wood said.

In the Rams' final match, the team dropped a tight 4-3 decision to the seventh-seeded University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Sophomore Amanda Barletta and freshman Kristen Liu kept the Rams in it, first teaming to win their doubles match 8-5 before taking their singles matches 6-3, 6-1 and 7-5, 6-0 respectively.

"We dominated at the bottom of the order, with both Amanda Barletta and Kristen Liu playing extremely well," Wood said.

Freshman Brooke Hoover picked up the only other point for the Rams, winning by forfeit at No. 6 singles. Rhody was one doubles match away from finishing higher, but was unable to get the extra match to get the win.

"It is pretty important, but I don't think that it's been our strength this year," Wood said of doubles play. "We've given up the doubles point more than I would have liked this year, but on the other side we've played really good singles."

The Rams opened the tournament with a 4-2 victory over the No. 11 seed University of Dayton on day one, responding with four singles victories after losing the doubles point.

Sophomore No. 1 Nyssa Peele and freshman No. 2 Christen Cadigan each picked up 6-4, 6-1 victories, while Barletta and Liu won 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-1 respectively.

Junior No. 4 Valerie Chacon appeared to be well on her way to victory up 6-3, 5-3, while jjunior No. 3 Grace Hedstrom suffered the only singles loss 6-3, 6-2.

In the next round, the Rams faced off with five-time reigning champion University of Richmond, and fell 4 to 0 the third-seeded Spiders. After losing the doubles point, Peele, Chacon and Hedstrom each fell in straight sets to give Richmond the win.

The Rams may have had a similar result as last season, finishing in seventh place, but Wood believes that this year's team was far more competitive than last year's.

"It's been nice to see us move up every year," he said. "This year, we may have tied to seventh, we were doing well against Richmond and we were right there with Charlotte."

Despite the seventh place finish, the Rams are shaping up to be even stronger next season, only graduating one senior in Whitney Squires.

"In terms of depth, we're adding three players for next season, and we'll be a good bit stronger next year," Wood said. "I'd really like to move into the top four for next season, and we're going to a be a real team to be contended with."

The Rams have improved their record every year since Wood took over the program in 2004, and whether or not they will continue the trend can only be speculated upon, but Wood said he is hopeful. "We're definitely on the upswing and next year we'll be even better yet, so I'm definitely optimistic," Wood said.