Manhattanville women's tennis rebounds with 5-4 win over WestConn

From the desk of Steve Sheridan - Manhattanville SID

BOX SCORE

PURCHASE, NY (Sep. 30) — One day after suffering a tough 5-4 defeat, the Manhattanville women’s tennis team bounced right back to turn the tables and earn a hard-fought 5-4 victory over Western Connecticut State University in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon at the Manhattanville Courts.

The bottom part of the Valiant order did all the damage against the Colonials, as Manhattanville won at second and third doubles as well as fourth, fifth and sixth singles to pull out the victory.

In doubles play, junior Kaitlin Triano (Rye, N.Y.) and freshman Nell Kucich (Manhasset, N.Y.) got the Valiants off to a good start with an 8-3 second-doubles win over Maxx Zimmer and Elizabeth Banacci, winning their third consecutive doubles match together. The third-doubles tandem of senior Annie Jaeger (Alamo, Calif.) and sophomore Boramy Siek (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) ensured that the Valiants would take a lead into singles play with an 8-4 victory over Kelly Macey and Brittany DiMauro.

And despite three losses at the top of the singles ladder, Triano, junior Danielle Waldron (Portland, Maine) and freshman Joeliza Valdez (Brooklyn, N.Y.) all came away with wins at the bottom three singles flights to give Manhattanville the 5-4 win.

Valdez had the easiest time of any Valiant singles competitor, moving to 4-2 at the sixth flight with a 6-4, 6-1 straight-sets win over Macey.

Triano and Waldron both had to work for their points, but each player emerged victorious to lead the Valiants to victory. After taking the first set, Waldron looked to be down and out in the second before winning the final five games of the match to steal away a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Zimmer at fifth singles for her third straight singles win. Triano also mounted an impressive comeback at fourth singles, dropping the first set by a 6-1 score before storming back to take the final two sets, 6-2, 6-1.

“The team really fought hard today and deserved to win the match,” head coach Sebastian Bredberg said. “It was a real team effort today, and it shows that we are improving each and every match. We’re looking forward to getting back into conference play.”

Manhattanville (2-4, 1-2 Freedom), which has already surpassed last season’s win total after just six matches, will look to carry today’s momentum into its next match, a Freedom Conference matchup at Eastern University scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. Western Connecticut State (5-2, 3-0 Little East) returns to action Saturday at 1 p.m. against Salem State College.