It was another challenging weekend for the Georgetown women’s tennis team. Looking for their first win of the year, the Hoyas again fell short, losing to St. John’s and No. 75 aryland over the weekend.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, the women played host to St. John’s in their first Big East match of the season, falling 6-1. The women got off to a slow start in doubles, and the lack of momentum carried over into singles play. The Hoyas dropped their first five singles matches, with their only win on the day coming in their last match from freshman Eileen Boyle. Boyle downed junior Jennifer Liantonio 6-2, 6-2, relying on strong serves.
“Eileen has been getting things done effectively in practice,” said Head Coach Rich Bausch. “That’s helped her keep things under control in matches.”
Other strong performances were put up by senior Jordan Botjer and freshman Sana Malouf, despite their losses. Botjer, playing No. 1 singles, competed well with junior Allison Davidson, losing 7-5, 7-5. Malouf, after having a bad day against James Madison a week earlier, rebounded well. She still, however, could not produce a win, falling 6-3, 6-4, in her first Big East match.
On Sunday the women headed across town to face the underrated No. 75 Maryland Terrapins. Again the Hoyas were defeated, this time in a shutout 7-0. The women again started the day off on the wrong foot, struggling in doubles and losing 8-0 in all three matches.
“We were overwhelmed in doubles,” said Bausch, “but we put ourselves back together to play singles. I was really impressed by the emotional resiliency of the girls going into singles.”
This weekend the women will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers in their second conference match. The men will also travel north, facing Rutgers in their first Big East matchup.
“We are learning,” Bausch said, “and we are going to use that experience on the court to really be competitive.”