Both the Men’s and Women’s teams season ended in the semifinals of the America East tournament this past weekend. The men’s team lost 4-3 to UMBC, while the women’s team lost 4-0 to Boston University.
The men’s team, who was seeded third in the tournament, lost two of its three doubles matches and split the singles matches 3-3 with the second-seeded Retrievers. “The men played pretty tough against UMBC, but we came up a little short,” said coach Gary Glassman on the tough match. “It was another case of the doubles point coming back to haunt us.”
“I’m disappointed in the inconsistent play of the men,” Glassman said on his team’s season in hindsight. “Overall, it was an average year and it’s tough to not make the conference finals.”
Although the season didn’t end like he hoped, Glassman has a strong group of young players returning next year. Artem Baradach and Ivan Rummel were freshmen this year, while Ilan Schvartz and Alex Markovich were sophomores. “It’s a great feeling to know that there will be some continuity with our core of men’s players,” Glassman said on his team’s future. “They have improved a great deal in one year and the future looks promising in that regard.”
On the women’s side, the doubles team of Sandy Wijeratne and Paola Rodolfi tallied Stony Brook’s only official victory. Wijeratne was on pace to win her singles match, she was ahead 6-0, 4-2, and Claudia Sanua was also ahead of her match 6-1, 4-5, but being that BU clinched the contest, their matches were not finished. “The women fought hard and played pretty well against a very talented BU team,” Glassman said.
Being that the team started the season losing to the first six teams, Coach Glassman is happy with his team’s finish. “I am really proud of how the team overcame a very poor start,” said Glassman. “They dealt with a lot of adversity and turned the season into a success.”
Now that their season is officially over, they have to say goodbye to their seniors Sandy Wijeratne and Victoria Vovsha. “Sandy played the best tennis on a consistent basis throughout the season. She leaves as the all-time wins leader and she’ll certainly be tough to replace,” Glassman said on Wijeratne. “Victoria is also in the top five in wins and we will miss her consistency at the bottom of the line-up.”
Although they will be losing two important players, the team will return sophomores Claudia Sanua and Paula Rodolfi, and freshman Fanny Charliquart, who had a great season.
“We are very excited about the future of the women’s program,” Glassman said. “With our core returning and the addition of some very talented freshmen — we hope to challenge for the conference title for many years to come.”
