2008 Woodie Awards
Women's tennis sneaks past Albany
Evan Crawley
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports
04/11/08 - A clutch performance from freshman Christen Cadigan propelled the University of Rhode Island women's tennis team to a 4-3 victory over the University of Albany Wednesday.
Aware that the outcome of her match would be the difference between the team winning and losing, Cadigan defeated the Great Dane's Susan Ma 7-3 in a third-set tiebreaker after Ma slammed a backhand return into the bottom of the net, taking the match 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3).
"It's always hard when it comes down to one match and it goes to a tiebreaker in the third, and it was interesting that both girls struggled through the third and didn't play their best tennis," Rams head coach Sandy Wood said. "Then Christen picked it up in the tiebreaker, she started hitting through her balls and overpowered the girl, and that's what she needed to do."
Despite fighting the fatigue of playing for nearly two hours and the constant switching between having match point and facing match point, Cadigan was able to come through when it mattered most.
"Honestly, I didn't think that was going to happen, I'm still just getting over it," Cadigan said. "I can't even describe it, I'm so happy."
Cadigan had an opportunity to avoid the tiebreaker with a match point at 5-4, but blasted a forehand five feet from center court into the net.
"That was so bad … I mean it's so hard not to dwell on it, but you know you have to just forget about it," Cadigan said. "You can't think about it, because if you focus on that one bad point, then everything goes downhill."
Sophomores No. 5 Amanda Barletta and No. 1 Nyssa Peele accounted for the other singles victories for the Rams, defeating their opponents 6-4, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-2 respectively.
Although Peele and Cadigan lost at No. 1 doubles 8-2, the Rams were still able to win the doubles point thanks to victories at No. 2 doubles from juniors Grace Hedstrom and Valerie Chacon, and at No. 3 doubles from Barletta and Kristen Liu.
Aware that the outcome of her match would be the difference between the team winning and losing, Cadigan defeated the Great Dane's Susan Ma 7-3 in a third-set tiebreaker after Ma slammed a backhand return into the bottom of the net, taking the match 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3).
"It's always hard when it comes down to one match and it goes to a tiebreaker in the third, and it was interesting that both girls struggled through the third and didn't play their best tennis," Rams head coach Sandy Wood said. "Then Christen picked it up in the tiebreaker, she started hitting through her balls and overpowered the girl, and that's what she needed to do."
Despite fighting the fatigue of playing for nearly two hours and the constant switching between having match point and facing match point, Cadigan was able to come through when it mattered most.
"Honestly, I didn't think that was going to happen, I'm still just getting over it," Cadigan said. "I can't even describe it, I'm so happy."
Cadigan had an opportunity to avoid the tiebreaker with a match point at 5-4, but blasted a forehand five feet from center court into the net.
"That was so bad … I mean it's so hard not to dwell on it, but you know you have to just forget about it," Cadigan said. "You can't think about it, because if you focus on that one bad point, then everything goes downhill."
Sophomores No. 5 Amanda Barletta and No. 1 Nyssa Peele accounted for the other singles victories for the Rams, defeating their opponents 6-4, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-2 respectively.
Although Peele and Cadigan lost at No. 1 doubles 8-2, the Rams were still able to win the doubles point thanks to victories at No. 2 doubles from juniors Grace Hedstrom and Valerie Chacon, and at No. 3 doubles from Barletta and Kristen Liu.