After completing two weekends of regular season play on the road, the Georgetown men’s and women’s tennis teams will compete in matches in the Washington, D.C., area this weekend. This past Wednesday, the men’s team defeated Morgan State in a 6-1 finish at the Arlington YMCA.
Georgetown (2-2) went into its matchup with Morgan State (1-6) coming off a 6-1 loss to Boston College (1-2). Against Boston College, the teams split doubles matches to begin play, but the Eagles pulled off a victory in a tiebreaker to win the third doubles match and capture the first point of the contest. The Eagles went on to win five out of the six singles matches.
“That’s what we’ve been talking about a lot, because losses like Saturday to BC … they’re just kind of inexcusable in ways,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said. “You know, I feel we’re a better team, but I always tip my hat to teams that want it more and pull off the upset, always.”
Georgetown and Morgan State had gone back and forth in recent years in competition. Last season, the Bears defeated the Hoyas 3-2. The previous year, Georgetown downed Morgan State 4-1. In both matchups, the team that won the doubles point triumphed in the match as a whole.
This year, Georgetown started off strong with victories in the first and second doubles slots to clinch the first points of the match. Junior Mac Rechan and senior Jordan Portner dominated with a 6-1 doubles victory, while sophomore Will Sharton and senior Yannik Mahlangu won 6-3.
The Hoyas went on to take five out of six singles matches. Junior Peter Beatty was the sole Hoya to suffer a loss in singles play, losing to Morgan State junior Jeremy Field. Georgetown sophomore Michael Chen, Mahlangu, senior Jack Murphy, junior Ryan McElvenny and junior Bart Panarese also secured victories in singles play.
Next, the men’s team will take on the Monmouth Hawks (0-5) on Saturday Feb. 11 at Yates Field House. Most recently, Monmouth suffered a shutout, courtesy of Notre Dame (4-2) in a 7-0 loss. Last year, Georgetown edged over Monmouth in a close 4-3 victory.
“They’re good,” Ernst said. “They’re a good team to play, a good schedule, they have scholarships … But hopefully our guys at home with their fans, they can play with a little more fire, because BC was about as flat as I’ve ever coached a team in my career, you know.”
The women’s team (1-1) wrapped up play last weekend with a loss to Harvard (3-4). Even though Georgetown won the doubles point, Harvard ultimately downed the Hoyas in a tight 4-3 finish.
Despite senior Victoire Saperstein, junior Drew Spinosa and sophomore Cecilia Lynham all picking up the first sets in their games, Harvard’s number one singles player went on to defeat Saperstein in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 result. Only Lynham and Spinosa went on to win in singles play, as Saperstein, Nakagawa, junior Sara Swift and sophomore Sydney Goodson lost.
“They outplayed us in a couple of positions,” Ernst said. “Their top three were just lights out. I mean they just played so well, especially Victoire’s girl in the third set. She raised her level … I haven’t seen a girl play that well against Victoire I think ever.”
Ernst specifically praised Spinosa for her performance against the Crimson.
“She’s a very, very unique player … She’s the quintessential fighter … She goes out on the court, she gets into a streak and that’s what you need at the Division I level, and it’s awesome.”
The women’s team will look to take back its winning record against Massachusetts (3-1) at the Arlington YMCA on Feb. 10. The Minutewomen began their 2017 campaign with a victory over Quinnipiac (3-2) in a dominant 6-1 fashion. After dropping a match to Brown (2-1) on Feb. 3, UMass came surging back to defeat Farleigh Dickinson (1-1) 5-2 on Feb. 5.
The women’s team will take on UMass at the Arlington YMCA at 11 a.m. on Feb. 10. The men’s team will play at Yates Field House at 4 p.m. the next day against Monmouth.
