VCU trapped by Fordham University, 4-2.

Andrew McGhan, Staff Writer

The VCU women’s tennis team lost to Fordham University 4-2 on Mar. 22.

Saturday’s matchup was an Atlantic 10 showdown, with two teams that were undefeated in conference play. 

VCU currently has a conference record of 1-1 with three more conference games to go with the loss against Fordham, according to VCU Athletics. The Rams overall record is 7-7.

The black and gold came back from a three-game road trip, where they went 2-1, according to VCU Athletics. 

VCU interim head coach Rifanty Kahfiani said she was pleased with how the team performed over their road trip and hopes that her players continue to get better after every match.

“I think going back from that trip, we had a great trip,” said Kahfiani. “Got two out of three wins, and our goal every match is to improve and to get better every day.”

Fordham won the doubles point after both teams secured a set, it came down to a back-and-forth third set to decide who won the doubles point. 

Fordham’s third-year tennis player Aya Matsunaga and first-year tennis player Paola Ueno Dalmonico defeated VCU first-year tennis player Andrea Magallanes and fourth-year  tennis player Yelizaveta Karlova 6-1 to conclude the first match.

VCU second-year tennis player Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando and second-year tennis player Mariam Ibrahim came back from being 2-0 in their doubles match to beat Fordham’s third-year tennis player Nevena Kolarevic and second-year tennis player Juliane Nguyen 6-2 to make the third set the decider for the doubles point.

Ibrahim said that she and Andrade Sabando had to account for the weather in order for them to win their match.

“Our doubles was pretty good, we were focused since the beginning, and we lost the first two games, but then we made some adjustments because there was wind,” Ibrahim said.

The last doubles match was intense with very little space for error for both sides. Fordham’s fourth-year tennis player Lorraine Bergmann and second-year tennis player Lily Chitamber narrowly defeated VCU first-year tennis player Sofia Jane Thorne and first-year tennis player Lea Malazdra 7-5 giving Fordham the doubles point.

VCU would have needed to win four out of the six singles matches to defeat Fordham.

The black and gold started off strong with four players winning the first set of their singles matches, according to StatBroadcast.

Ibrahim won the first singles match of the day against Bergmann, winning the first two sets with a score line of 6-0 in the first set and 6-3 in the second set, according to StatBroadcast. With the win, the overall score was tied at 1-1.

Throne won her singles match against Nguyen by winning the first set 6-2 and the second set 6-3, according to StatBroadcast. This gave VCU a 2-1 lead in the overall score.

Throne said that she was being too defensive in her doubles match, so she played more aggressively in her singles match.

“I was trying to go for everything and make sure that I was up in the court rather than being stuck at the back,” Throne said.

Fordham’s Chitambar won her singles against Magallanes with a score line of 6-4 in the first set and 6-3 in the second set, tying the score at 2-2, according to StatBroadcast. 

Kolarevic defeated Andrade Sabando to win her singles match even with losing the first set to Andrade Sabando. She scored 6-2 in the second set and 6-3 in the third set. With the win, Fordham took the lead over VCU with a scoreline of 3-2.

Dalmonico defeated Malazdra by coming back from losing the first set to win the second set 6-4 and winning the third set 6-3, according to StatBroadcast. With this singles win, Fordham beat VCU 4-2 overall.

With no way for VCU to outscore Fordham, the singles match of Karlova and Fordham’s first-year Catalina Padilla Udaeta was prematurely concluded.

Even with the loss and how Fordham applied pressure throughout the matches, Kahfiani said that this was a learning experience for the team.

“We’re gonna learn from this. We have a few more weeks until the championship, and I’m going to prepare them to handle the pressure better,” said Kahfiani.

VCU will face College of William & Mary at the McCormack–Nagelsen Tennis Center on Friday, Mar. 28 at 1 p.m.