Stony Brook Tennis was in action this weekend, as the men and women won their Friday matches 6-1 and 7-0 against Hartford respectively, before both teams fell on Saturday. The men lost 4-3 to Fairleigh Dickinson and the women 5-2 to St. John’s.
“The men and women kept their intensity level up Friday and it showed with two wins,” Stony Brook head coach Gary Glassman said. “However, Saturday, I felt the women were outclassed and or the men, we let that match slip away from us.”
On Friday, the Seawolves were dominant against the Hawks. Both the men and women came out strong, winning all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead into the singles flights. On the men’s side, the Seawolves were able to win all but one singles match. Junior Tyler Hoffman, freshman Rodrigo Ristow Hadlich and junior Kenzo Kauffmann lost only four games combined during the singles portion of the match as they led their team to a 6-1 victory on the day.
After winning the doubles point, the women’s team never took its foot off the gas. Led by sophomore Yana Nikolaeva, who won 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match, the Seawolves lost a total of 11 points during singles matches and went on to win each singles flight and get the shutout victory against the Hawks by a final score of 7-0.
Saturday was a much different story for the Seawolves
The men faltered early, only winning one doubles match and losing the doubles point to Fairleigh Dickinson. During singles play, they were able to win three matches, as senior Jose Morales outlasted junior Gonzalo Quintana, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2, in the No. 2 match. Ristow Hadlich and Kauffmann came up with wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. With Fairleigh Dickinson winning the other three single flights and having the doubles point in hand, Stony Brook lost by a final score of 4-3.
“We lost our focus,” Glassman said. “When we lose our focus, we let matches slip away from us. And that’s exactly what happened today.”
On the women’s side, the Seawolves opened with strong play against the Red Storm and were able to win the doubles point. Once singles began, it was all St. John’s. The Red Storm won all but one singles match, in which Stony Brook senior Becky Shtilkind beat sophomore Irina Preotescu, 6-2, 6-3. That was the only bright spot during singles play, as the Seawolves fell to the Red Storm, 5-2.
“I felt that we were outclassed,” Glassman said. “They competed extremely well in the singles, and that’s where we got outplayed.”
The women have a week off before competing in Maryland for the America East Championships.
“First, we need to get healthy,” Glassman said. “Once we get healthy, we need to play our style of tennis. If we play the way we played on Friday, we have a good shot.”
The men have next weekend off before heading to Wichita, Kansas for the Missouri Valley Conference championships.
“In order to win, we need to maintain our focus and our intensity,” Glassman said. “We need to stay focused on the task at hand. When we do that, we will get the results we want.”
