Women's tennis splits weekend matches

3/17/10 - The University of Rhode Island women's tennis team traveled to West Point, N.Y. to face Niagara University and the United States Military Academy during the weekend at the Lichtenberg Tennis Center. The Rams were able to come out of the weekend even, winning one game and losing one.

"For the past two months we have been playing on an indoor court in [the Mackel Field House]," junior Christen Cadigan said. "The surface is completely different than a regular court so it was difficult to transition. We all played our best and succeeded for the most part."

On Friday night, the team posted a 7-0 victory over Niagara. The team was perfect in the singles and took two of three doubles matches.

Both teams sent their top-six athletes to compete in the singles matches. Rhody completed a clean sweep, claiming all six singles.

In a matchup of No. 1s, Rhode Island sophomore Kirsten Leikem was challenged by Niagara's Hilary Hansen. Leikem took the first set 6-3, but Hansen answered in the next set with a 7-5 win. The final set was a battle for both competitors. In the end Leikem was able to prevail with a 13-11 victory.

The Ram's other victories proved to be a bit easier. In the matchup of the No.2 seeds, sophomore Pam Emery defeated her opponent Raquel Socis 6-2 in the first set and took the second set 6-0.

Tristany Leikem defeated Emma Cunnington 6-1 in the first set and 6-0 in the next.

The next challenge for the Rams in singles action came in junior Christen Cadigan's matchup of no. 4 seeds. Her opponent Brittany Walters put up a strong fight,with Cadigan winning the first set 7-6 (7-4). Walters won the next set 6-3 and in the tie breaker Cadigan won 10-2.

The next two victories for Rhody came in straight sets. Senior Amanda Barletta beat Julia Gray 6-0 in the first set and 6-1 in the second and junior Brooke Hoover swept both sets of her match 6-0.

In dual play, the team was able to grab two of the three matches. The No. 2 team, senior Amanda Barletta and Emery won a 9-8 (2). The No. 2 seeded team of Kirsten Leikem and Hoover also able t earned an 8-2 win.

In Saturday's match against Army, the Rams did not have similar success. They were beat 6-1.

In singles play, Emery came out with Rhode Island's only victory. She took the first set 6-3 and came back to win the second set 7-5.

The doubles team of Cadigan and Tristany Leikem won their match 9-7. Unfortunately the one victory was not enough to get the doubles point, as Army won two of the three matches.

The loss drops the Rams to 6-4 on the year (5-1 Fall; 1-3 Spring). The team will return to action over spring break as they travel to Arizona for three matches against Northern Arizona University, Grand Canyon University and Western New Mexico University.

"I'm definitely excited to travel out west to compete," Cadigan said. "I don't think we have ever played a team out that way before so it will be interesting to see the different teams. The climate is very different from Rhode Island so we have been increasing our physical fitness to be ready for it. I think we're going to compete very well.