The women’s tennis team continued its fall season at home last Friday with a 5-2 loss against Rider University in the Leopards’ first dual match of the season. The men’s team also kicked off its fall season this past weekend, competing in the Lehigh Invitational and winning a 5-2 dual match over Kutztown University.
For the women, the Leopards ceded the first doubles match to Rider by forfeit. At second and third singles, seniors Alyssa Perdomo and Alexandra Waldman fell in straight sets.
Freshman Sophia Pacheco gave the Leopards their sole singles victory, cruising to two 6-1 set wins at the fourth spot.
“I tried to be as aggressive as possible for each point,” Pacheco said. “It took a little time to figure out my opponent’s style, but once I did, I felt confident the rest of the way.”
At fifth singles, freshman Sophia Bald battled through a close three-set match but ultimately fell in a third-set tiebreaker. Junior Ally Bauer rounded out singles play at the sixth spot, falling in two straight sets.
The Maroon and White secured the doubles point by winning two out of three matches. Perdomo and junior Hanna Ganchi teamed up for a 6-3 win at first doubles, while the first-year duo of Pacheco and Bald secured a 6-4 victory to earn the doubles point.
“Sophia and I are really close,” Pacheco said. “We had a lot of fun playing together.”
The women will return to action on Sunday at home against Wagner College.
“We all push each other to work hard,” Pacheco added. “We’re excited for more matches and growth.”
The men clashed against Villanova University, Rider and host Lehigh over the weekend. The Leopards went 4-23 in singles matches and 4-8 in doubles matches across the two-day tournament, according to freshman Ricky Espaillat.
Espaillat earned one of the singles victories in a back-and-forth match against Villanova. After trailing 0-3 in the first set, he battled back to win 7-6 after a tiebreaker. In the second set, down 3-5, he rallied with four straight victories to take the second set 7-5.
“It was day two of the tournament and we were all exhausted,” Espaillat said. “I started the match feeling really tired, but a few of my teammates who had just finished were cheering me on from the sidelines, which helped me get back in the zone.”
“Big shoutout to Sam Gelber for really hyping me up,” he added.
Junior Derrin Lerner and freshman Nikolas Martirossian also earned singles victories for the Leopards.
“Many of our losses were tight matches,” Espaillat said. “In a dual match format, I believe we’ll fare pretty well against those same teams.”
The Leopards fared well on Tuesday against Kutztown, sweeping all three doubles matches and winning four out of six singles matches. Lerner, Espaillat, freshman John Dickens and senior Nick McKenzie all won against their Golden Bear opponents.
The team will face Monmouth University and Rider on Saturday before hosting Wagner on Sunday.
“Each day we’re getting stronger,” Espaillat said. “Even day two of the tournament showed improvement over day one, and the tournament helped highlight areas we need to work on.”