(Tri-City Tennis and Fitness, Latham, NY). The Great Danes lost the doubles point and the first two singles matches to fall behind 3-0, but kept fighting and nearly won this match. Rocio Lopez was the only double winner on the day as she and Kirsten Scott dominated at #1 doubles, then she pulled out a hard fought three-setter at #3 singles. And freshman Cat Crummey won again at #4 singles in straight sets to account for the Danes only two points.
Scott came within one point of winning at #1 singles, and proved she can compete well at that always demanding position. Mireille Hermans made a big comeback at #2 after dropping the first set to take the second set and nearly go up 4-2 in the third. Fran White and Sarah Iannone (#6 and #5 respectively) showed much improvement in both their singles and doubles.
The match took exactly four hours and was a highly spirited affair! Both teams were cheering at a high vocal level, much of it in Spanish. In the end, Providence just kept a few more balls in the court in key situations, and relied on their experience to take key wins at #1 and #2 singles, which turned out to be the difference today.
The Danes,1-1 on the season, take on FAIRFIELD with an expected start time of 3:00pm on Thursday, Feb. 14 at the Bubble on the UA campus. It’s a VALENTINES DAY SPECIAL…Free Admission to everyone who brings a Valentines Day card or candy!!
Coach Graham: This was a great college tennis match with everything you could want except a win for the home team. We competed with so much heart and effort! We dropped the doubles point, then fell behind 3-0 after two singles matches, but the four remaining players kept fighting and we came within a few points of sweeping all of them to take the match. This team can accomplish a lot this season by competing like this going forward. We are going to improve on the practice courts, and we will get more healthy, too. I feel good about what lies ahead for this season!
UALBANY 2 PROVIDENCE COLLEGE 5
Doubles:
1. Scott-Lopez (UA) def. Aviles- Bernardez (PC) 8-3
2. Prinos-Corder (PC) def. Hermans-Crummey (UA) 8-2*
3. Ramirez-Zangari (PC) def. Iannone-White (UA) 8-3
Order of finish: 3,2,1.
*=doubles point clincher
Singles:
1. Marisela Aviles (PC) def. Kirsten Scott (UA) 2-6,7-5,7-6(0)
2. Maria Bernardez (PC) def. Mireille Hermans (UA) 6-2,4-6,6-4 $$
3. Rocio Lopez (UA) def. Alana Prinos (PC) 6-4,5-7,6-3
4. Cat Crummey (UA) def. Taylor Corder (PC) 6-4,7-5
5. Karen Ramirez (PC) def. Sarah Iannone (UA) 6-3,6-0
6. Hannah Zanjari (PC) def. Fran White (UA) 6-3,6-1
Order of finish: 5,6,4,2,3,1
$$=Match clincher
