Over this past weekend, the Villanova men and women’s tennis teams competed in away invitationals as part of their pre-season matches. The men’s team competed in the St. Joseph’s Invitational, whereas the women’s team traveled to West Point, New York to compete in the Army West Point Invite.
Eighteen schools competed at the Army West Point Invite. As a result, the Wildcats only brought four players along to compete, including junior Chloe Floyd, freshman Miriam Gondorova, junior Valieriia Kornieva and sophomore Maggie Gehrig.
In her group, Gehrig made it quickly through the first round of 32 in two sets, but in the round of 16, she lost to Sacred Heart after two sets.
Gondorova had a winning streak through the round of 32 to the quarterfinals, where she made each match last only two sets. Yet, Fordham’s Anlin Xie ended this streak and only conceded two games to Gondorova.
Kornieva fought back hard to win her first match in the round of 32. Facing Fairfield’s Maeve Cassidy, Korieva secured one game in the first set before going down, 1-6. In the second set, Korieva escaped with a win after a (7) 7- (4) 6 win with a seven-point tiebreaker. A 10-point tiebreaker then determined the match, which she won, 10-8. However, her success with tiebreakers would eventually end in the round of 16, where Korieva lost to a player from Army in a tiebreaker in the second set for a score of 2-6, (6)6 – (8)7.
Floyd’s singles competition was cut short early on in the round of 32 as she lost a quick match against Bryant, who only conceded three games in the match.
“I thought both [Kornieva, Gehrig and Gondorova] played really well in singles,” head coach Steve Reiniger said. “Valieriia got off to some slow starts but she would finish strong in her matches. I thought Maggie had a tough opponent and played her really well, played her tough.”
For doubles, the Wildcats paired Gondorova with Kornieva and Gehrig with Floyd. In their group, Gondorova and Kornieva pair faced off against a team from Rider in the round of 32, beating it, 6-4, in a single-set match. However, their run ended short in the round of 16 when they were defeated by a Fordham tandem, 4-6. Conversely, Gehrig and Floyd defeated Fordham’s pair in their group’s round of 32, 6-4, after getting a bye in the previous round. Yet, the Wildcats were again defeated, 6-4, in the round of 16 by Quinnipiac’s team.
“I thought that [Gehrig and Floyd] played very well,” Reiniger said. “I think [Floyd] particularly had a breakout. She ended up playing doubles with Gehrig. She probably played the best match that she’s ever played. She and [Gehrig] had a great win against a great time from Fordham. This was the first time [Gehrig and Floyd] ever played together so I thought [Floyd] had just a breakout game, she did everything very well.”
As for the men’s team, the St. Joseph’s Invitational got cut short after one day due to the rain on Saturday and Sunday. Nevertheless, the Wildcats played a full day’s worth of matches against Drexel University. Singles play started strong for the Wildcats with a record of 4-3 for the day.
After losing his first set in a tiebreaker, sophomore Tighe Brunetti made a quick comeback and secured the win in the next two sets, only conceding five games in the process. Senior Ryan Nguyen played a similar match, losing the first round, 5-7, then coming back in the next two, 6-4 and 7-5. Senior Josh Robinson played the quickest match against the Dragons, winning in two sets by a score of 6-1, 6-3. Freshman Will Monahan also finished his match within two sets, yet this proved more difficult, as he won the second set narrowly with a tiebreaker, giving the match a final score of 6-3, (7)7-6(4).
“Drexel is a very good team,” head coach Brad Adams said. “Obviously, we lost to them last year. The upper-echelon players like [Robinson or Brunetti] proved we are making improvements. Some of our freshmen came through like [Monahan] won his match and Thomas Wakefield lost in a very tight three-setter. Nguyen played above where he played last year and was able to pick up a win in three sets as well.”
In doubles play, the Wildcats and Dragons only played three matches, with the Wildcats losing two out of three. Brunetti and Robinson paired up to defeat the Dragons in the one-set match, 6-4. Juniors Lukas Choi and Trey Forticq lost by a score of 6-4, whereas freshman Justin Frattarelli and Joshua Vestal were swept, 6-0.
“With doubles, with the weather, I think it was a last-minute mix and match as far as getting everybody playing time,” Adams said. “Outside of [Brunetti and Robinson] who won their match the other doubles teams didn’t have much time to prepare leading up to Friday. The bright spot is a team like [Robinson and Brunetti] who have been playing with each other for a significant part of the fall and picking up the win. The other guys were trying to get experience and we’ll try to find some more doubles pairings moving forward.”
Looking ahead, the men’s team will compete in the River City Open against Richmond, which is set to take place Friday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 8. As for the women’s team, it will return to the court this upcoming weekend for the Navy Invite.
