After the 2023-2024 season left the Georgetown women’s tennis team with a final record of 8-13, the team looks different with the addition of five new faces. It’s a new season on the Hilltop. Or, in the case of this past weekend, at the Towson Hidden Dual.
At the round-robin fall season opener, the Hoyas earned a clean sweep.
Emerging victorious over Loyola University Maryland (LMD) and Towson University (TU) on Saturday, Sept. 21 and Mount St. Mary’s (MSM) on Sunday, Sept. 22, the Hoyas’ season is off to an auspicious start.
Going 8-2 in singles, the Hoyas consistently proved their ability to be mentally tough on an individual level throughout the weekend.
The Hoyas began the weekend with a tightly squeezed win of 3-2 against LMD. Earning a smooth singles victory, Georgetown sophomore Katie Garofolo-Ro defeated LMD Lauren Manwiller 6-0, 6-3. Additionally, Hoya junior Paige Gilbert tallied a victory against LMD first-year Emma Roeck, who defaulted due to an injury.
While she battled until the very last point in a nail-biter, Georgetown sophomore Tatiana Zelenko fell short of a singles win. After splitting the first two sets 6-4, 1-6, the Florida native lost 10-8 in a third-set tiebreaker to LMD Christine Richiez.
Georgetown first-year Jordan Thomas also lost in singles 6-2, 6-2 to LMD Jessica Bodewes. From Williamsburg, Va., Thomas made her college debut with awards under her belt, including Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools MVP and all-conference first team tennis honors in 2022.
However, Georgetown’s victorious fate against LMD was decided in doubles. Junior Ashley Kennedy and graduate student Ellen Puzak came on top by a score of 6-4, 6-1, asserting the Hoyas’ dominance over LMD on Saturday.
On that same day, Georgetown managed another win (2-1) against TU, displaying one trick up their sleeve: versatility.
Kennedy’s versatility and adaptiveness between singles and doubles was evident throughout the weekend, even as Hoyas went 1-2 in doubles as a weekend total.
With her supremacy reigning from her doubles match victory earlier that day, the Pennsylvania native scored a tight straight-set victory in singles (6-1, 7-6) over TU Chandré Boshoff.
Garofolo-Ro secured her second consecutive singles victory of the day by overpowering TU Chloe Courtnage. The Texas native dominated the match, winning the first set 6-3 before leaving Courtnage gameless in the second set and securing her 6-0 win.
Even though they lost in doubles, the Hoyas did not go down without a fight, and their effort was reflected in the score. Zelenko and sophomore Emily Novikov split sets with TU’s Ashira Murray and Tamzin Pountney, 6-4, 1-6, ending with a 10-5 tiebreak in favor of TU.
With Georgetown’s doubles teams deciding their fate earlier in the day and singles players continuing their victories throughout the latter half, the Hoyas’ momentum made them unstoppable.
This force carried over to Sunday, when no MSM singles player scored more than six games off of a Hoya. Georgetown’s Novikov defeated Margherita Trolese 6-1, 6-1, and first-year Carolyn Schaefer shut out Emma Kaden 6-0, 6-0. Puzak won 6-3, 6-3 against Valentine Mudry; the tightest of the day’s singles matches.
First-year Natasha Kavarana also pulled off a singles win — 6-0, 6-3 — to begin her Hoya tennis career. This should not come as a surprise, however, as the Charleston native was the 2021 South Carolina State Champion.
Still, the Hoyas’ doubles did not work in their favor, as Gilbert and Thomas lost 6-1, 6-3 to MSM Venus Tang and Emma Perkins.
The Hoyas will continue their fall season this weekend, Sept. 27-29 in Annapolis, Md. at the Navy Blue and Gold Invite.
