HAMDEN, C.T.–A humid morning set the scene for the Quinnipiac women’s tennis team’s second game in the QU Hidden Duals tournament, taking on in-state rival UConn. Wins were not easy to come by for either team, but in the end, UConn secured four singles wins and a doubles win, while Quinnipiac took two doubles wins and two singles wins.
The Bobcats historically struggle against the Huskies, but they were a bit more warmed up, having played Marist this past Friday. For UConn, it was the opening game of the season.
It was, in fact, Quinnipiac who struck first, with junior Caroline Schulson and sophomore Isabella Sicignano combining for their second win of the tournament, taking their set 6-4.
Soon after, sophomore Trista Caffyn-Parsons and junior Lilly Black also took their match 6-4, clinching the doubles point for the Bobcats.
In singles play, the Huskies came roaring back with Quinnipiac’s senior Vera Sekerina, junior Anagha Shankar and reigning MAAC player of the year sophomore Willow Renton all falling to their opponents. All three were forced to attempt to play catch up the whole time. However, two Bobcats were able to win their singles matches with junior Caitlin Flower taking her game 6-2, 6-4 and junior Lilly Black winning 6-2 and 6-2.
If it were a regular season game, the overall score would be 3-3, leaving junior Isabella Baker’s matchup as the tiebreaker.
“She [Isabella] wasn’t feeling 100%,” head coach Paula Miller said. “I think the sun finally got to her from yesterday,” which made the junior’s performance even more impressive.
In the first set, Baker came back from being down 3-4 to take a 6-5 win, taking three of the last four games. In the second set, Baker yet again found herself down 3-4, but ended up short of pulling off a similar performance to her first set, and lost 6-4.
In the subsequent 10-point tiebreaker, Baker fell behind early, down 6-2. She brought it back to 9-7 before time ran out, but lost 10-7.
“She gave it all she could,” said Miller. “I’m proud she fought all the way to the end.”
Overall, Miller’s attitude toward their performance against the Huskies was positive.
“We would have lost 4-3, I think last year we lost 7-0,” Miller said.
She believed that the game proved to be great training for later in the spring, when the two teams are set to meet again, this time at a regular season matchup.
“I’m proud of the way we competed and we fought and I’m excited to play them again in the spring,” Miller said.
Quinnipiac will close its play in the Hidden Duals against MAAC opponent Fairfield on Sep. 7, the game set to start at 4 p.m.
