Huskies drop first Big East match

In its first Big East conference match of the season, the UConn men’s tennis team dropped a contest to the Georgetown Hoyas, 7-0, last Friday at the East Hartford Tennis Club.

The loss drops UConn’s record to 1-3 on the season, and is also the third consecutive defeat by a 7-0 score for the Huskies, while the Hoyas got their first win of the season as they improved their record to 1-5.

“I think our effort and fight on the court were not reflected by the score,” junior Ryan Carr said. “We had a lot of close matches out there and I was very proud of how the team conducted themselves and fought all the way to the end. Everyone showed great heart.”

The Huskies started off well in doubles competition, as Carr and sophomore Wayne Harrell were able to win their match at the No. 1 spot, 8-5. However, the team wasn’t able to secure the point in doubles play as the No. 2 and No. 3 duos dropped their matches by the same 8-5 score.

“We had some good opportunities,” head coach Glenn Marshall said. “But we had a two-game swing in one match where we lost our serve and they held easily, and we just couldn’t recover from that late in the match.”

As for Carr and Harrell’s efforts, Marshall said, “They played well last weekend in Florida, and have been grooving together and doing very well as a team and understanding each other, they complement each other well. Wayne has a big serve and great volleys, and Ryan is more of a backcourt player who sets up the point. So they’ve been coordinating good efforts and attacks in the last couple of matches.”

The Huskies weren’t able to rally back in the singles play as they dropped five out of the six matches. The lone win came at the No. 3 spot from freshman Mark HoSang.

“Mark played against some really strong players and showed his true potential as a freshman,” Marshall said. “We had good fights and good efforts, but we didn’t quite seal the deal on some of the sets to clinch them, which is something we need to work on.”

The Huskies will look to end their three-match slide next Friday as they take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats.