The Longwood men’s and women’s tennis teams finished their seasons with seven regular season wins each. The men’s team won a number of close victories, including a 4-3 win over Presbyterian and a sudden death victory of the same score over the University of Richmond. The women’s team did not win a Big South match this season and missed the conference tournament; their statement win was their 4-3 senior day win over George Washington.
Freshman Alexandra Magia has provided several winning moments for the women’s team, according to Longwood Director of Tennis Charlotte Clarke. Magia, despite being new to US collegiate tennis, built an impressive resume in her hometown of Athens, Greece.
“She came in with a lot of junior experience, so she’s not someone who isn’t used to working hard and playing matches. I think the difference with her is she always wants to know how she can improve…she's very accountable for her own improvement,” said Clarke.
Magia was named Big South women’s tennis freshman of the week three times this season. “Having those moments and having those wins, especially against UNC Greensboro [when] I had to do the clinching point, and everyone [ran] to me once I won the match, was just amazing,” Magia said. Though the women’s team did not perform up to their expectations this year, the emergence of young players like Magia provides optimism for future seasons.
Junior Elizaveta Gnilozubova and Magia led the team with 10 individual game wins this season. Senior Karina Rizvanova and Gnilozubova, both from Kazakhstan, had an impressive 12-4 doubles record this season — one of the best in the Big South.
All but two players are international students on the women’s team, requiring Clarke to think outside the box at times to bring the team together, something she said she has enjoyed doing. “Having a large international population on the team definitely affects our team culture massively,” Clarke said, herself a native of Leicester, England. “When you put that together, it widens the range of opinions, it widens the range of experiences, and it has pushed us to look at how we do things in a different lens.”
For the Lancer men, also with mostly international players, it has been a season with plenty of twists and turns. Beginning with three losses out of the gate, the rest of the season was back and forth. They defended their own courts well, posting a 4-1 home record.
The Lancers defeated schools such as Hampton, Norfolk State and George Mason, but lost to schools such as Virginia Tech, James Madison and Navy.
They faced a particularly tough schedule, especially during the last part of the campaign. On April 4, they took on Wake Forest, the number-one ranked team in the entire country. The Lancers were swept 4-0, but did win one round of doubles.
The men’s team qualified for the Big South Tournament for the second year in a row, but lost 4-1 to UNC Asheville on April 17.
Sophomore Petar Belosević, junior Timeo Peuch, freshman Petter Lindquist and graduate student Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva all had double-digit wins this season. Peuch has been an especially key factor this season for the men, with a record of 21-9 in singles.
Clarke said finding pairings for players has been an ongoing process, as the team has made doubles a priority this season. “We've been working on doubles a lot this semester. [It] started off a little bit slow, [we] started looking at some pairs that we thought might work in theory, and then perhaps didn't, and we changed those halfway through, and it's been working really well for us,” she said,
She added, “We've got a lot of depth in doubles now, and the players have put a lot of hard work in practice.”
Clarke said the men’s team has come together well over the course of the season. “They look across the courts and see that people are fighting for a team victory, rather than just letting the same individuals take the point. [That] has been a big thing for us,” she said.
Note: In the original article, Timeo Peuch's record in singles was listed as 20-9. His record in singles, according to Longwood Athletics, was 21-9. The article has been corrected to reflect his correct record. Furthermore, a slight adjustment in wording was made to clarify our context for Clarke's quote about international players.
