The Falcons tennis team had two matches this past weekend. On Saturday, they were up against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana, followed up on Sunday night in Detroit, Michigan against the Detroit Titans.
On Saturday for the Falcons, Notre Dame took care of business, easily capturing the win 6 1 by taking two out of three in doubles 6 – 4 and 6 – 3 and taking five out of six in singles. The Falcons did have one bright spot in the matches, however, with junior Paula Comella and sophomore Marharita-Sophia Tavpash defeating seniors and number one and two seeds Brooke Broda and Allie Miller 6 – 3 in doubles and Comella once again defeating Broda in singles 6 – 3 and 6 – 4.
“We played really good tennis, actually, against Notre Dame,” Falcons head coach Stephanie Dalmacio said. “I’m very proud of the girls the way they competed as hard as they did and I think the most important thing for us, is that they believed they could do it a little bit more this year. That was our goal for us.”
Dalmacio alluded to that they knew going in that it wouldn’t be easy to take on and defeat such a well-known team in Notre Dame, but overall, she has seen tremendous improvement and couldn’t be prouder of the effort put forth by her team.
Sunday night, the Falcons had much more success coming away with dominant victory over the Detroit Titans with a final match score of 4 – 0. In doubles, Comella and Tavpash continued their success winning 6 – 2, junior Polina Radeva and sophomore Ayumi Sasaki tying their doubles match at 4 – 4, followed up by a 6 – 3 victory in the final doubles match by junior Vanessa Pardo and freshman Marta Bettinelli to secure the first point of the match.
In the singles portion of the match, the Titans never stood much of a chance, as the Falcons took care of business winning five of the six matches, finishing the weekend with a record of 1 – 1 on the weekend.
Now, the Falcons will rest up this week, spend spring break in San Diego, California, but Dalmacio understands while tennis will be on their mind, it’ll be about the team off the court that’s most important
“We’re going to be in a nice environment, you know, the warm weather,” Dalmacio said. “They’ve been working very hard, so it’s going to be a little down time for us, a little bonding time as well. My goal is for the girls to bond a little more, relaxing with each other, and I think that’s going to be a very positive thing for us for when we get back.”
The Falcons next match, excluding the exhibition while in San Diego against the Azusa Pacific Cougars, will be the road once again against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Tuesday, March 13.
