After a tough loss to DePaul, the Georgetown women’s tennis team (2-4, 0-2 Big East) got back on track last weekend with a 4-3 defeat of James Madison (2-4, 0-2 Colonial Athletic Association) at the Bell Haven Country Club in Arlington, Va.
Neither team gave an inch during singles play. By the time all six matches had been played, Georgetown and James Madison were tied, 3-3. Graduate student Stephanie Wetmore got back in the win column after losing her first match of the year against DePaul, as the captain defeated junior Kinsey Pate, 6-2, 6-1.
As for the other Hoyas, freshman Tina Tehrani handed sophomore Megan Douglass a loss, 6-2, 6-2. Similarly, junior Lauren Greco returned to the court for the first time since falling ill after the Syracuse match last month and defeated freshman Jacqueline Palmucci, 6-1, 6-4.
“The largest difference [between playing JMU and playing DePaul] was that we got Lauren Greco back,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said. “She was the MVP of my team last year.”
The Hoyas were unable to clinch the match with one more win in singles play, though. Sophomore Vicky Sekely lost the momentum she had gained the previous weekend as the only Hoya to win against DePaul, falling to JMU sophomore Michelle Nguyen, 6-3, 6-4.
Freshman Madeline Jaeger lost a heartbreaker to JMU sophomore Katherine Bulling, falling just short after forcing a third tiebreaking set and losing, 6-2, 5-7, 10-7. At the other singles slot for the Blue and Gray, sophomore Samantha Martin fell to freshman Ruxandra Andriescu, 6-4, 6-2.
Fortunately for the Hoyas, though, they were able to grab that elusive fourth point in doubles play.
The first doubles team of Greco and Wetmore easily handled JMU’s Kinsey and Nguyen in an 8-4 victory. Similarly, the second doubles pairing of Sekely and Tehrani eked out a win over JMU’s Ruxandra Andriescu and Katherine Bulling, but not without a tiebreaker.
The Blue and Gray’s third doubles pairing — senior Alex Sebia and sophomore Alexandra Landers — fell to the Dukes’ pair of Douglass and Palmucci, 8-5, which saved James Madison from being swept away in doubles but did nothing to avert the defeat.
“We’ve played some matches now — DePaul, Syracuse, VCU — we’ve played some tough teams,” Ernst said. “My girls look like they can believe they can win, instead of [just] hoping they can win.”
