After roller-coaster seasons, the Georgetown tennis program concluded regular-season play April 16 with resounding victories against the Villanova Wildcats and will now turn its attention to the Big East tournament.
The last match held more importance than simply the season finale, as it was also Senior Day for senior co-captain Casey Distaso and senior co-captains Kelly Comolli and Madeline Jaeger.
“They put their heart and soul into the program, all three of them, and we’re really going to miss them,” Head Coach Gordie Ernst said of the three seniors. “Replacing them is not going to be an easy task. They’re very, very special kids. They don’t grow on trees, kids like that, so I appreciate every moment I have with the three of them.”
The men’s tennis team (8-12, 1-1 Big East) downed the Wildcats (5-16, 0-1 Big East) in a 6-1 decision. Distaso played in the fifth singles slot for the Hoyas and defeated Wildcat junior Tim Abbracciamento 6-4, 6-1.
Overall, Georgetown won five out of its six singles matches. Junior John Brosens suffered the only singles loss on the day, falling in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, at sixth singles. The loss brings Brosens’ record in his last six matches to 4-2. He played in the sixth singles slot for five of those six matches, but played in the fourth singles slot in a victory against the University of Mary Washington in late March.
The women’s team (10-10, 3-2 Big East) also triumphed over Villanova (6-16, 1-4 Big East) 4-3. Both Comolli and Jaeger won in the second and third singles spots, respectively. Comolli competed in a three-set contest concluding in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory. The senior pair also competed in the first doubles slot and triumphed over Villanova pair senior Mikelle Mancini and sophomore Tori Smyth 8-4.
Georgetown lost in the second and third doubles slots, but won the match courtesy of four singles victories. In addition to Comolli and Jaeger’s wins, freshman Sophia Barnard and sophomore Liselot Koenen won in the fourth and sixth slots, respectively.
The matches round off inconsistent seasons for the Hoyas. The men’s tennis team began the season strongly with a 5-3 record, but proceeded to lose five straight matches mid-season. Meanwhile, the women’s team started off with a 1-7 record, yet notched six straight mid-season wins to bring its record to 7-7.
Now the Hoyas look toward the Big East tournament, which will take place from April 24 to April 27 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The women, seeded fifth, will first compete against the fourth-seeded St. John’s Red Storm (10-8, 4-0 Big East). In February, the Red Storm beat the Hoyas at home on the Yates courts in a 5-2 decision, breeding an even more competitive drive for the Hoyas to avenge their loss in the rematch.
“We lost to them at Yates earlier in the year and it did not leave a good taste in the mouth of our girls. They lost that match and were thinking ‘We’ve got to get them next time.’ They’re just a team that we really want to beat,” Ernst said.
In preparation for the tournament, the women’s team will need to improve upon a few aspects of their game, specifically in doubles play.
“If we can play better doubles by making more return of serves, closing and sticking our volleys a little more, playing with a bit more intensity at times when there are big game points in doubles, not double faulting. If we can clean those up then we’re going to do okay,” Ernst said.
Meanwhile, the sixth seeded men’s team will take on No. 3 DePaul (9-13, 2-2 Big East). The teams are in the same conference, the last time Georgetown competed with DePaul in regular-season play was February 2008 in a match that concluded in a 6-1 win for DePaul.
“They’re always a good team,” Ernst said of the DePaul squad. “These are just going to be very competitive matches.”
The top seeds in the tournament are DePaul (9-13, 2-2 Big East) on the women’s side and St. Johns (13-7, 2-0 Big East) on the men’s side. Though Georgetown sits lower in the tournament’s seedings, the Hoyas have considerable potential heading into future seasons.
“Our strengths are the qualities of the individuals, the qualities of the kids; this is a great group of kids, and that’s really our strength,” Ernst said. “Obviously we want to win more, but we have kids that enjoy playing and can get better in the future.”
The women will play against St. Johns at 11:00 today, and the men will compete with DePaul at 3:00. All the matches for the tournament will take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
