Women's Tennis Defeats Sacred Heart

March 2, 2015

NEW HAVEN, CONN. - The Providence College Women's tennis team earned their first victory of the spring 2015 season with a 5-2 defeat of Sacred Heart University in New Haven, Connecticut on Sunday, Feb. 28. The win avenged the Friars' 4-3 loss to the Pioneers during the 2013-2014 season and marked the first victory for the team under head coach Becky Ricci. After several weather-induced match cancellations and two tightly contested 4-3 defeats, the Friars persistence and talent scored them a quality road victory before Big East conference play begins.

The Friars started out of the gate strong by winning two of the three doubles matches to clinch the overall doubles point. The team was led by its number one doubles pairing of junior Alana Prinos and freshman Emma Burgess which cruised to an 8-3 victory over the Pioneers' Lindsey Post and Paige Olson. Prinos and Burgess both served particularly well throughout the match, a factor that allowed for the duo to take early control of points and put away numerous balls around the net.

Although the Friars No. 2 doubles team of sophomores Jenn DeLuca and Amanda Pitocco fell in a close 8-6 loss to Sacred Heart's Katie DeRienzo and Nicole Rydzewski, the Providence College duo of freshman Nicole Cyterski and junior Hannah Zangari captured the No. 3 doubles match with a strong 8-4 triumph over Sacred Heart's Taylor Gurda and Sabrina Navarro. Cyterski and Zangari continued to display their ability to be a potent team out of the third doubles position, improving their spring season record to 3-1.

In singles play, the Friars once again gained an early upper hand on the back of Pitocco's 6-2, 6-4 win over Sacred Heart's Emma Pezzullo in the No. 6 singles match. The sophomore's success was due in large part to the versatility of her game. In the first set, Pitocco demonstrated the consistency of her groundstrokes by continuously hitting deep topspin to Pezzullo's backhand. She complemented her groundstrokes with strong volleys and the occasional serve and volley, both of which allowed the sophomore to dictate the majority of the match's points. With the win, Pitocco moved to a perfect 3-0 on the spring season.

Pitocco's victory gave the Friars a 2-0 advantage and was quickly followed by a 6-2, 6-2 victory by her classmate Jenn DeLuca out of the No. 3 singles position. DeLuca played an extremely intelligent match against Sacred Heart's Olson, as her point development gave her numerous opportunities for easy forehand winners. The sophomore maintained her composure throughout the contest and put together one of her most comprehensive performances in a Friar uniform. "After the team lost to Sacred Heart last year in a close match, it was particularly important to all of us that we put together a strong performance tonight," stated DeLuca after the match. "Above all else, I was extremely happy with how hard each of us competed tonight. Alana and Emma both dropped difficult first sets, but the way that they fought back and won their 2nd and 3rd sets convincingly is exactly how we want to play each and every match."

Already holding a 3-0 lead in the match, Providence's Prinos sealed the win for the Friars with a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 victory over Sacred Heart's Post. After losing a first set in which she was plagued by some uncharacteristic errors, Prinos responded with two consecutive sets of brilliant tennis to give the Friars their fourth point of the day. "[After the first set], I just decided to go back to basics and make her hit a lot of balls," noted the Friars' junior. "I began to relax, my quality of play improved, and I carried that momentum throughout the remainder of the match." The win was Prinos' second singles triumph of the spring season, and it gave her victories in both doubles and singles play on the day.

The Friars captured their fifth and final point of the day by way of a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 victory for freshman No. 4 singles player Emma Burgess over the Pioneers' Nicole Rydzewski. In a match similar to Prinos', Burgess showed resiliency in rebounding from a difficult first set to clinch the final two sets for another Friars' singles win. "After I lost the first set, I was getting down on myself which is uncharacteristic" related Burgess. "However, I leaned heavily on my training, and it gave me the push I needed to come back and win the next two sets. It was a good day for the Friars."

With the overall match score already decided, the final two matches would be not be played to their full extent and would instead be determined by third set tiebreakers. Providence College junior Olivia Hogan played one of the tightest matches of the day but dropped a 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 decision to the Pioneers' Gurda. Hogan managed to score a quality first set victory over Gurda, but she was unable to hold on and succumbed in the abbreviated match format.

In the duel for No. 1 singles, the Friars' Cyterski fell by a score of 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 to Sacred Heart's DeRienzo in a highly competitive tilt. For the second consecutive match, the Friars' freshman took on one of the top players in the Northeast Conference and nearly captured a win. However, Cyterski was unable to duplicate her impressive victory over DeRienzo during the fall season's Quinnipiac tournament, falling in the third set super-breaker after two back-and-forth sets.

With the win, the Friars improved to 4-4 overall for the 2014-2015 season. The team's next match is at home on Friday, March 6th against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The match will be played at Centre Court in Riverside, RI at 5:30 p.m.

GO FRIARS!

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Players Mentioned

Emma Burgess

Nicole Cyterski

Olivia Hogan

Amanda Pitocco

Alana Prinos

Hannah Zangari

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