Geneseo tennis takes on Ithaca and the University of Rochester
Photo courtesy of Geneseoknights.com
Last weekend, the Geneseo women's tennis team had two matches respectively on Friday and Saturday. Both matches were non-conference and against teams that were a part of the Liberty League. On Friday, the team travelled to Ithaca to face the Bombers and lost with a score of 1-6. Then on Saturday, the Knights went to Rochester and fell to the Yellowjackets 1-6. Both points from the matches came from the singles region for the Knights.
When the Knights went to Ithaca on Saturday, they knew that they were in for a difficult match. The Knights had faced Ithaca in the past, and the last time the Knights had come away with a victory was in 2016. Starting off in the doubles realm, the first duo of junior Natalie Pipes and sophomore Joann Catalano lost to the Bombers with a score of 0-6. The third doubles team of junior Talia Wutz and freshman Ashleigh Fredriksen were able to get two more games for a set score of 2-6, while second doubles obtained one more for a final score of 3-6.
Since all three doubles had lost, the Knights were already down one point in the match. They would have a huge hurdle to overcome in singles if they wanted a chance at winning the match against the Bombers.
In the first singles match, Natalie Pipes had solid points against her opponent and was able to get one game from each set against her. Joann Catalano also took two games from her adversary and ended up with a score of 0-6, 2-6. Third singles sophomore Rachel Molloy had two more games against her opponents and ended with a score of 2-6, 2-6. Freshman Lauren Levitano managed to squeeze four games from Ithaca with a final score of 1-6, 3-6.
Sixth singles Talia Wutz was the lone point for the Knights. After a grueling three-hour match, she was able to beat her opponent. The final score of her sets were 7-5, 6-4. When watching the match, it was incredibly intense.
When the Knights hit the road again on Saturday, they had a renewed sense of energy fueled by an hour of karaoke on the bus ride there. Once in Rochester, the Knights got down to business and started with doubles. Unfortunately, none of the doubles teams were able to get more than two games against the Yellowjackets.
This shifted all of the focus onto the singles portion yet again. The Yellowjackets were a great challenge for the Knights, but unfortunately, all of the Knights but the first singles lost their respective matches.
First singles, Natalie Pipes, was the only Knight able to obtain a point for the scoreboard. After two sets with a score of 6-4, 4-6, Pipes had to move into a tiebreaker. She bested her opponent with a score of 10-3 and was able to quiet some of the chatter from the opposing team in the process.
This upcoming weekend, the Knights have two more matches. The first is home against SUNY New Paltz at 3:30, and the second is away at Hobart-William Smith on Saturday at noon. Be sure to show up on Friday and support your fellow Knights!