By Ryan Signorino
Staff Writer
The St. Bonaventure men’s tennis team moved to 1-2 this season over the weekend, while the women’s team suffered its third straight loss.
The men won their first match of the year against Niagara 7-0 last Saturday, before falling to Colgate on Sunday 5-2. The women were narrowly beaten by Niagara, losing 5-4.
The weekend began with a thumping of Niagara for the men’s team. The Bonnies won every match in straight sets, including wins by Miki Nobuzawa and Christian Vazquez. All the doubles teams won their matches as well.
Head tennis coach Michael Bates said that while Niagara was not on the level of play it has been in the past years, it was nice for the team to get its first win.
“It was a good experience,” Bates said. “I think it was good for the freshman to get a win under their belt and to play at home made it nicer.”
He said that the team is doing well, but could use some work on its doubles play. He commented that the team’s struggles with doubles matches is probably due to the team having a lot of young players.
On Jan. 31, the team took on Colgate, and suffered its second loss of the season. The result was 5-2, with the two wins coming from Eduardo Irizarry and Victor Blanco.
“I played really good,” senior Irizarry said. “We have a really good team. I think this is going to be our year.”
According to Irizarry, it will be interesting to see how the team fares this weekend against two tougher teams. He also mentioned that the team likes to play against tougher teams and see how they compare.
The women’s team nearly got its first win of the season, but came up just short against Niagara. All three doubles teams won their matches, but only Lauren Doversola was able to win her singles match.
“It could have been a different ball game,” Bates said in regards to the near win, “Three matches went to three sets, and we should have won all of them.”
Bates said for the women to notch their first win, the team needs to work on finishing the points better. He mentioned that they are struggling with unforced errors and need to make their opponents miss instead of having to hit all winners.
“Everyone played pretty well, I guess, since it was the first home game everyone was nervous,” senior Mara Martinez-Santori said, in regards to the loss. “It gave us a good insight on how we are playing and how good we can do over the course of the semester.”
She said in the matches this weekend everyone needs to be focused in order to win. She thinks that the team gained enough experience to overcome the weaknesses that the team has. She hopes that everyone can continue to grow as a team rather than individuals.
Both teams are beginning to show improvement, after the men dropped their first match against Youngstown State 6-1 and both Penn State and Navy defeated the women.
Next up for the men are matches against Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday and against Richmond on Saturday. The women have their home opener on Saturday as well, a match against Mercyhurst that kicks off at 12 p.m. They then take on Colgate on Sunday.
signorra15@bonaventure.edu
