NORTH HAVEN, Conn – Looking to continue its momentum following a 5-2 win over Hofstra, the Quinnipiac women’s tennis team hosted the Stony Brook Sea Wolves Saturday evening in North Haven. 

The Sea Wolves had an effective game plan starting the doubles matchup. Have a strong front net presence to combat any hits from the backline by Quinnipiac. This gave all doubles teams problems at the beginning of their respective sets. 

Seniors Claire Koscielski and Alessia Truden adapted to the frontal attack from their opponent and countered it with their own. Koscielski posted up at the front of the net and out-battled her opponent. Each traded consecutive forehand hits, just like what you can see from a tennis match in the game Wii Sports. But Koscielski got the upper hand on the battles moving forward. The duo won the only doubles match for Quinnipiac as the other two doubles teams fell 6-0 and 6-3.

“Yeah, we changed it up when (graduate student Kamilla Nella) was sick and they kind of clicked together,” head coach Paula Miller said. 

Koscielski and Truden are 3-0 in doubles matches when playing together this season. 

Quinnipiac found themselves down 1-0 overall after losing the doubles points. Having to climb back into the match wasn’t an easy task for Quinnipiac. 

Despite this, the Bobcats earned a quick point after Koscielski, again, showed her dominance on the court. Following a doubles match win with Truden, she cruised through her singles matches winning 6-0 and 6-3. 

Her play style starts off slow and quickly changes to her smashing frozen ropes with her forehand, making her opponent move all over the court. 

“Claire has been playing great,” Miller said. “She’s been very consistent at winning and I can always depend on her. You don’t know if she’s winning or losing if you look at her, she’s just so calm and collected on the court and she ends up pulling through.”

Freshman Nikole Lisovyy won her singles match in two sets 7-6 and 6-4. Despite tweaking her ankle in the first set, she gutted out the rest of the match and tied the overall score at two for Quinnipiac. 

A key win for the match came from senior Jordan Bradley. After winning the first set in convincing fashion 6-1 on the heels of her forehand missiles, she dropped the next 6-3 and headed for the final set. 

“I struggle with finishing out points,” Bradley said. “When I saw that everyone else had finished I was like ‘OK, I need to actually win.’”

Up 5-3 in the set, Bradley took a deep breath and was able to finish out the match, winning 6-4, and leaving the overall match in the hands of freshman Vera Sekerina. 

Similar to Bradley’s match, Sekerina swiftly took the first match 6-0, however she fell in the next set 7-5. Miller noticed that Sekerina was frustrated with herself, so in between the games she gave her some advice. 

“She looks down sometimes when she’s playing and I’m very into the idea, if you look down your opponent will see that,” Miller said. “So, I tried to tell her to look more positive , don’t look down, look like you’re going to win the next point and be on your toes, always moving. That’s always been my big thing.”

Hearing Miller’s words calmed the Kazan, Russia, native as she took the match 7-5, giving Quinnipiac the match victory 4-2. 

“As a freshman and it’s a close match, that was great that she pulled through.” Miller said. 

After the win tonight, Quinnipiac has now won two matches in a row and three of their last four. The Bobcats start a nine-match road trip Sunday, heading to the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. The road trip will feature four matches in Orlando, Florida before coming back to Guilford, CT for a five-match homestand.