Women’s tennis continues inconsistent play
The VCU women’s tennis team continued its rollercoaster spring season, dropping three of its last four matches since mid-March.
Nathan Heintschel
Contributing Writer
The VCU women’s tennis team continued its rollercoaster spring season, dropping three of its last four matches since mid-March.
The slump came immediately after the Lady Rams experienced both a five-match winning streak from Feb. 23-March 5 and a five-match losing streak between Jan. 25-Feb. 8.
The defending Atlantic 10 champions entered last year’s conference tournament on a nine- game winning streak. This level of consistency has eluded the Lady Rams this spring season, and they now sport an 8-8 record with less than three weeks left before the conference tournament.
VCU bested conference rival George Washington University 7-0 on March 22; however, the Lady Rams lost three away matches against top-50 opponents in recent weeks. Their losses came against the University of Memphis 5-0 on March 10, the University of Mississippi 6-1 on March 12 and, most recently, the University of South Florida 5-2 on April 4.
The Lady Rams have fallen victim to a tough schedule.
Memphis entered its match against VCU ranked No. 27 in the nation, and its victory against the Lady Rams stretched the Tigers’ home win streak to 37 straight.
Mississippi, who was ranked No. 38 at the time of its match against VCU, competed against the Lady Rams just two days after playing Memphis. USF is the lowest-ranked of the three, but still entered play against VCU at No. 46 in the country. The victory was USF’s 11th consecutive win.
Leading the way in singles matches for the Lady Rams was sophomore Yukako Noi and junior Cindy Chala.
Noi is ranked No. 105 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as of March 25. Since Feb. 1, Noi has won six matches and accrued one loss. Two other matches were listed as “did not finish,” or DNF.
Chala is ranked No. 110 in the nation by the ITA as of March 25. Chala began the season ranked 50 and despite dropping in the rankings, has continued to play well. Since Feb. 1, Chala has won seven matches and accrued three losses.
Against A-10 opponents, Noi and Chala won their matchups. During VCU’s match up with the University of Richmond on March 5, Noi defeated Anna Abadias Morales 6-1 and 6-0 and Chala defeated Melissa Kandinata 6-1 and 6-0. During VCU’s match up with George Washington, Chala defeated Leah Pascarella 6-1 and 6-1. Noi did not compete against George Washington.
An added incentive for the Lady Rams is to continue asserting themselves in the conference. The Richmond Lady Spiders had won nine conference championships between 2002 and 2012. However, VCU won the conference championship in their inaugural A-10 season adding to their four conference championships in the Colonial Athletic Association between 2003 and 2012.
The Lady Rams will face two top-75 opponents in their three remaining matches. They play 65th-ranked Georgia State University at the USF courts April 5, at the College of William & Mary April 13 and a home match against 71st ranked Marshall University April 15.
VCU will begin conference tournament play on April 24.