Last weekend, the Georgetown University men’s and women’s tennis teams traveled with high hopes to the Big East Tournament in Cayce, S.C. Both teams entered the championship tournament seeded third and hoped to capitalize on recent successes.
Unfortunately, the teams failed to achieve their lofty goals. The Georgetown women’s team (8-13, 4-2 Big East) lost in the quarterfinals to sixth-seeded St. John’s (10-8, 1-2 Big East), while the Georgetown men’s team (14-7, 4-3 Big East) defeated sixth-seeded Xavier (4-18, 2-4 Big East) before falling in the semifinals to the eventual champions DePaul (14-9, 4-1 Big East).
The women’s team entered the tournament after finishing their regular season with a win over Villanova 6-1 on their Senior Day.
The Hoyas faced off against St. John’s for their first match of the Big East Women’s Tournament for the second year in a row.
The Hoyas entered the match hoping to turn the tides and calm the Red Storm after losing to them 4-0 last year. Similarly, St. John’s, coming fresh off a victory against 11th-seed Providence (5-14, 0-3 Big East), was hungry to extend its successes.
In doubles play, St. John’s defeated Georgetown on courts one and two to gain early momentum. Senior Olivia Ashton and graduate student Chloe Bendetti fought valiantly for Georgetown on the first court but were ultimately defeated 6-2 by Mouna Bouzgarrou and Arina Gumerova. On the second court, first-year Katie Garofolo-Ro and sophomore Ashley Kennedy suffered a tough 6-1 defeat to Noemi Babikova and Alicia Gomez.
Georgetown managed to fight back at the start of the singles matches. First-year Emily Novikov, who has proved to be an excellent asset after leading the Hoyas with a singles record of 10-4 this spring, defeated Arina Gumerova in two sets, 6-2 and 6-3.
Despite the inspiring effort by Novikov, St. John’s followed its doubles success with 3 singles victories. Kennedy and senior Avantika Willy each fell to their respective St. John’s opponents, Babikova and Nicoline Sartz-Lunde, in two sets, while Garofolo-Ro also lost but took her opponent Gomez to three sets.
Ultimately, the Georgetown women’s team fell 2-4 to a tough St. John’s side, ending their tournament campaign early.
Like the women’s team, the Georgetown men’s team entered the quarterfinals with a rematch against Xavier from last year’s tournament. Having defeated the Musketeers 4-1 in their previous matchup, the Hoyas hoped to replicate their success en route to a deep run in the Big East Tournament after earning the most victories in a single season since 2011.
Right away, the Hoyas secured the doubles point. On the second court, sophomore Arthur O’Sullivan and junior Jake Fellows soundly defeated the Musketeers’ Jorge Santamaria and Kyle Totorica 6-2. Simultaneously, Georgetown juniors Burke Pablo and Adhvyte Sharma topped Xavier’s Christian Gonzalez and Charlie Temming 6-3 on the third court.
Moving to the singles matches, the Hoyas kept up their momentum and completed the sweep. Fellows, at the No. 1, showed resilience and defeated Xavier’s Ryan Cahill in two sets, both of which ended 7-5. Fellows has played outstandingly this year, earning a spring season singles record of 18-2 and notching 25 wins on the season.
Sophomore Zamaan Moledina and graduate student Kieran Foster also found success in their victories over respective Musketeer opponents, Pascal Mosberger and Temming, sealing the 4-0 series sweep.
After its impressive quarterfinal victory, Georgetown was set to face DePaul in the semifinal game seeking redemption, having previously faced the Blue Demons March 22 and falling 3-4 in a narrow defeat.
The Hoyas started strong, winning 2 doubles matches and collecting the doubles point. Foster and Moledina bested their opponents, Jona Gitschel and Shourya Verma, on the first court, 6-2. Foster and Moledina continually proved to be a stellar duo throughout the season, leading the team with a record of 11-4 as a doubles pair.
On the second court, O’Sullivan and Fellows also managed to defeat their rivals, Leon Huck and Sven Moser, 6-3. Unfortunately, after these 2 victories, the match took a turn for the worse for the Hoyas.
The Blue Demons burst to life in the singles matches, coming back from their doubles defeats by winning four of five of the singles matches. Fellows was the only Hoya able to scrape out a victory, defeating DePaul’s Vito Tonejc in two close sets. Besides that, O’Sullivan, Foster and Sharma took their opponents to 3 sets but were not able to add a point to the team’s total.
Georgetown ended up losing 3-4 to the competitive DePaul team. The Blue Demons went on to win the entire tournament, defeating the previous champions and first-seeded St. John’s 4-2 in the final.
The early exits from the Big East Tournament meant that both Georgetown teams ended their seasons and did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Still, both teams have much to look forward to as the majority of their players will be returning next year, providing a solid foundation to build on.
