Though the weekend began on the wrong note for the Stony Brook women’s tennis team, it bounced back in an important way.
The Seawolves (2-5, 1-0 CAA) spent their weekend in New Jersey to face the Seton Hall Pirates (4-3) on Friday and the Monmouth Hawks (1-6, 0-1 CAA) on Saturday. Stony Brook lost its match to Seton Hall 4-2 before dominating Monmouth 6-1 in the two teams’ Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) opener.
At first doubles, Kristi Boro and Elena Lobo-Corral notched their second doubles win as a tandem this season by defeating Aina Plana Ventosa and Bella Moen 6-4. At second doubles, head coach Thiago Dualiby debuted the pairing of Mia Palladino and Dasha Perfiliev against Niamh Campbell and Imogen Brooker, but they were shut down 6-2. To decide the doubles point, Cornelia Bruu-Syversen and Sara Medved fell short in a 6-4 loss at third doubles to Aili Hietala and Anastasia Sereda.
While Palladino and Perfiliev struggled in doubles, they both did well in singles play. At first singles, Palladino came out on top with a pair of 7-5 victories against Brooker to get the Seawolves on the board. In fourth singles, Perfiliev took the first set against Campbell 7-6 with a 7-5 tiebreaker and then closed the match with a 6-2 win in the second set.
At second singles, Lobo-Corral faced Sereda and dropped the match 6-3, 7-5. Third singles also went to the Pirates, as Plana Ventosa trumped Boro 6-2, 6-4. Needing just one more point for the team win, Hietala conquered Medved in back-to-back 6-4 sets to clinch it for Seton Hall. As a result, fifth singles between Moen and Bruu-Syversen went unfinished.
Dualiby was encouraged by his doubles tandems but said the singles play needs to be better.
“We had our chances and saw improvement in doubles tonight, but it was not enough,” Dualiby said in a postgame interview with The Statesman. “With a slow start in singles, it got difficult for us to catch up.”
On Saturday against the Hawks, doubles play started on the wrong foot, as Boro and Lobo-Corral were defeated by Madison Mills and Lana Brezanin 6-4 at first doubles. However, Palladino and Perfiliev dominated Nitika Girish and Hana McKinney in second doubles with a 6-0 sweep. At third doubles, Debby Mastrodima and Bruu-Syversen were paired up for the first time and won 6-3 over Lenien Jamir and Lauren Landstrom.
Much to Dualiby’s pleasure, Stony Brook dominated singles play with five wins in six matches. Palladino took first singles from Brezanin 6-2, 6-3. Similarly, Lobo-Corral defeated McKinney 6-3, 6-2 at second singles. Fourth singles went Bruu-Syversen’s way with 6-2 and 6-4 triumphs over Jamir. Medved beat Landstrom 6-1, 6-4 at fifth singles and Mastrodima swept sixth singles with a pair of 7-5 victories against Mills.
The only thing that prevented a perfect day for the Seawolves was Perfiliev’s injury during third singles that forced her to forfeit the decisive third set against Girish. Perfiliev took the first set 6-2 but was blanked 6-0 in the middle set.
Dualiby praised his players’ ability to adapt quickly.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Dualiby said. “We set controllable adjustments for our preparation and during play from yesterday, and everyone executed them really well.”
Stony Brook will look to build on the win next weekend up in Rhode Island when it takes on the Bryant Bulldogs on Friday at 12:45 p.m. and the Rhode Island Rams on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The Bulldogs are 1-5 this year and will face Fairfield on Sunday before their matchup with the Seawolves. The Rams are 5-2 this season after sweeping Colgate 7-0 this past Saturday.
