Tennis team seeking first winning record

The University at Albany women’s tennis team will try to push its record above the .500 mark for the first time in the spring season this Saturday against Fordham.

   The Great Danes are coming off of their largest margin of victory of the young spring season when they beat Skidmore, a Division III team, 6-1 in their first home match on Feb. 16.

   Susan Ma led the way posting victories in both her singles and doubles matches. The team now stands at 2-2 and feels confident they could notch another win onto their belt in their upcoming match.

   “We were pleased with our overall effort and feel confident going forward,” said Aubrey Brooks who is entering her second year with the team. “We played Fordham before so nothing will come as a shock to us; we don’t feel we will lose.”

   The Danes squared off with Fordham last fall at the Marist Invitational defeating them by a score of 6- 1. Fordham comes into the matchup with a 0-4 spring record.

   Despite the Danes’ recent success and Fordham’s current struggles, UAlbany is not overlooking their opponent.

   “Fordham is always solid,” said UAlbany coach Elissa Kinrad, who is a former American East Conference coach of the year. “They have a new coach that is doing well with the team.”

   This will be the Danes first match in nearly three weeks. The team has taken the time to rest up and prepare for the long season ahead.

   “I am hoping that this time off will be good for us. It gives us a chance to work out the kinks and fine tune some things,” Kinrad said. “We have a long stretch coming up where won’t get a break. I’m hoping the rest will keep us excited and motivated.”

   The team has kept itself in the right mind-set with consistent practice along with strength and endurance training.

   The Danes season started off on a rough note as they lost two of their first three matches. They had a difficult season opener against Syracuse in a match in which they shutout 7-0. Even with the loss, Kinrad believed the opener against Syracuse was a good way for the team to kick off the season.

   “Against Syracuse we knew we would have to be on top of our game,” Kinrad said. “The girls played some tough matches and came away with confidence.”

   That confidence seemed to carry over into their next game against St. Bonaventure, propelling the Danes to a 5-2 victory. UAlbany was led by solid doubles play from their second and third teams and posted four of six singles victories.

   In their next game the Danes would come up just short against Long Island University, losing 4-3. The Danes split the singles points but were swept in the three doubles matches that would decide the winning point.

   Following the match Kinrad decided to juggle around the doubles teams, switching Laine Mackey to the first team alongside Ma and putting Livia Gherman with Caitlin Crowley on the second doubles team. These changes came as a product of the beginning of the season feeling out process and some minor injuries.

  “We had to make some changes to our doubles team,” Kinrad said. “We could have some really good doubles teams but we need three solid doubles teams if we want to win the point.”

   The changes proved to pay off as the Danes would rebound once again by beating Skidmore. The first doubles team earned its first victory of the season in the match.

   Now the Danes are looking to string together some consecutive victories in order to improve its ranking in the conference.  The Danes feel they will attain this goal if they come together as a team and play to their full potential.

   “We have to perform the same way we do in practice,” Brooks said. “Our coaches scope everything out for us very well. We want to come in with a strong attitude no matter which team we are playing against and intimidate our opponents on the court.”

   The Danes finished last season ranked number five in the American East conference championship with a 15-5 record overall.  The Danes would go on to sweep Hartford 7-0 and win the consolation round of the conference championship.