When faced with a series of blasts of snow as this past week has given Longwood, it is easy to forget that spring sports are in full swing. Coach Bruce Myers and his 3-1 women's tennis team had little time to enjoy the winter weather as they traveled to Annapolis, MD over the weekend to play the Naval Academy.
The Lancers got off to a hot start this season as they won their first 3 matches. Victories over Villanova University, a well- rounded Bucknell University team, and the 22 ranked Division III opponent Mary Washington gave the Lancers’ season an undefeated start. Then came the first setback of the season, losing to George Mason 6-3.
It was back to action for the Lancers Friday in Annapolis, facing Big East foe Seton Hall. It was clear from the start, this was a different caliber opponent than that of the previous week. The No. 2 doubles team of sophomore Anna Pelak and redshirt senior Nicole Parker got off to a slow start against the No. 2 doubles team of Seton Hall. They lost the doubles set 8-1 to put the Lancers down a point. The Lancers responded quickly as the No. 1 doubles team of senior Malin Allgurin and sophomore Paloma Alatorre posted an 8-4 victory against their counterparts from Seton Hall. This was the pairs third victory at the number one spot on the season. This drew the Lancers even with the No. 3 doubles match yet to be completed. It proved to be one of the more crucial points of the match. The No.3 doubles duo of junior Maria Coronel and sophomore Mason Thomas answered with an 8-5 win, giving the Lancers the doubles point and a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
The momentum did not translate to singles as the Lancers dropped five of their six singles points. The lone bright spot in singles for this match came from Thomas again, as she defeated Julia Keenan of Seton Hall, 7-5, 6-2. The rest of the Lancers found little success. Allgurin lost just her second singles match on the year, 7-5, 6-3 to the No. 1 Hannah Liljekvist of Seton Hall. This made the overall score 5-2 with the Pirates picking up the opening match victory against the Lancers.
The turnaround was quick as their next match was Saturday afternoon against the Midshipmen of host Naval Academy. It was a lot of the same for the Lancers as they found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard losing 6-1. The doubles point, and all but one of the singles points, belonged to the Midshipmen Saturday as the Lancers won 2-of-9 matches on the day. The doubles team of Allgurin and Alatorre were at their winning ways again winning 8-6 over the No. 1 duo for the Midshipmen.
Singles was much the same as Allgurin continued her dominance in singles on the year coming back from a set down to take the tiebreak win from freshman Kristine Rojo of Navy, 3-6, 7-5,1-0 (10-1).
The rough weekend continued into Monday as the Lancers were scheduled to play a home match against Washington & Lee University, but were forced to change venues due to winter storm Octavia. The Lancers found little success in Lexington as they were dispatched with a 6-1 loss to the Generals. With the lone bright spots Thomas and Coronel; Thomas winning at singles and doubles with Coronel in the No. 3 doubles spot.
They look to return to winning ways as they travel down route 460 to face rival Liberty University on Wednesday in Lynchburg.
