UConn women's tennis hosts Quinnipiac in first home match

In their first dual match of the season, the UConn women’s tennis team is hoping for the opportunity to best Quinnipiac for a third year in a row at home.

After rain postponed the Huskies’ first home match against UMass, the team is looking for another opportunity to start off at home with a win. Today’s match is the first of two home dual matches that the team will be participating in this fall, the second being against UMass next Wednesday.

Last season, the Huskies defeated the Bobcats in Hamden on the Quinnipiac campus in a 4-3 victory. Overall, the results for the team were mixed, but they managed to edge out their opponent 2-1 in doubles and split the singles matches 3-3. Both of the doubles tandems that won last year are returning for another year of play, as well as two of the three winning singles competitors. Bringing back players with that kind of experience will undoubtedly play a significant role in giving the Huskies a victory.

“We have a lot of depth on our team this year,” said junior Lucy Nutting, who was half of one of last year’s victorious doubles tandems. “Hopefully it will show tomorrow and display the hard work we've put in so far this fall.”
The team has already encountered competitors from Quinnipiac multiple times this year, competing against them at Quinnipiac’s own invitational and the Army Invitational. So far, the Huskies have found some success over the Bobcats, having beaten them in five out of nine singles matches and two out of six doubles matches. In almost every match they have encountered each other, the results have been consistently close, one of the matches even being the final match of the Quinnipiac Invitational, which decided the winner of one of the doubles flights. The level of competition between the two teams has not been higher all season, and today will be the culmination of the in-state rivalry that continues to develop.

“We’re expecting a tough, competitive match,” said Nutting. “[Quinnipiac] is always a great team to play.

The Huskies hope to post an even stronger performance against Quinnipiac than they did last year. The team is convinced that their combination of new talent and returning players will be enough to orchestrate a big win over the Bobcats.

“I’m very excited,” said freshman Srna Stoŝljević. “Hopefully it doesn’t rain.”
After rain cut short the opening competition of the season and postponed their first dual match, that is a sentiment the whole team can agree with.