Rams tennis falls to FSC for 2nd dropped match of season, defeats Oklahoma Baptist

03/25/09 - The University of Rhode Island women's tennis team dropped its second match of the season, falling to Florida Southern College 5-4 Thursday, before defeating Oklahoma Baptist University 6-1 Saturday. The Rams improved to 11-2 this season."There's no question Florida Southern was a stronger team," head coach Sandy Wood said, "but we certainly had our chances. We could have won pretty much any of those matches from two to four against Florida Southern but they were all equally strong players and it just didn't quite happen."

Before seniors Valerie Chacon and Grace Hedstrom picked up singles victories in the fifth and sixth round against Florida Southern, Rhody dropped four straight singles matches en route to dropping its second match of the season.

"It was a good, tight match," Wood said, "and you need some good, tight matches. I didn't want to win all of the matches because I feel that you win more in a tight loss sometimes."

Chacon teamed up with sophomore Christen Cadigan to collect one of Rhody's two doubles victories. Junior Amanda Barletta and freshman Pam Emery combined for the other Rhode Island doubles victory.

"Our doubles is really coming together," Wood said. "If anything right now, our doubles are a little bit ahead of our singles. We have some pairs that are emotionally getting along well and supporting each other and consequently, everybody's playing pretty strong. There's an awful lot of personal chemistry in doubles and right now we have it."

Chacon went 6-0 last week in singles and doubles competition, improving her singles record to 9-2 and her doubles record to 12-6, earning her the Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week Award. Emery had a 6-2 week, improving to 14-4 in singles competition and to 14-6 in doubles competition earning her Rookie of the Week honors.

"We were attacking more than the other teams," Wood said. "In both cases we were the aggressor and they were more passive."

Rhode Island bounced back two days later, collecting five singles victories and winning all three doubles matches. Freshmen twins Kirsten and Tristany Leikem turned things around for the team, winning each of their singles matches in the second and third round, and then teaming up for an 8-4 victory in doubles competition against Oklahoma Baptist.

"They play well as a team," Wood said. "They definitely support each other well. One thing they have to remember is that they are at their best when they are supportive of each other. They have a lot of firepower because their returns are so strong, as are their volleys. They're getting back to where they were this fall when they were playing extremely well together."

Cadigan, Hedstrom and Barletta combined for Rhody's other three singles victories, while Barletta and Emery, and Chacon and Cadigan picked up Rhody's second and third doubles victories.

Rhode Island looks to pick up its 12th win of the season when it hosts Quinnipiac University tomorrow afternoon. Starting time is set for 3 p.m.

"[Quinnipiac is] always a really tight battle," Wood said. "That's a good, quality team who we're pretty even with. We just need to go out and play at the level we're capable of, and if we do that, we have a very good shot. I think we're ready for it.