NEW ORLEANS – If one were to only look at the scoreboard, it would appear as if the Tulane University women’s tennis team was simply outmanned during its 6-1 loss to No. 45 Virginia Tech Thursday afternoon at the Goldring Tennis Center.
A closer look at the numbers, however, provides a much different picture as the Green Wave (8-9) gave the Hokies (9-3) everything they could handle, and then some. Three of the six singles matches went to three sets, and while Tulane fell short in all three instances, the young Green Wave team left their mark on a team that was ranked in the Top 40 nationally during the 2009 season.
“We’ve spent a lot of time lately about taking that next step into the ‘Big Leagues,’” Tulane head women’s tennis coach Terri Sisk said. “I told the girls that the only thing that separates us from a Top 50 program is having seniority on the team. It isn’t a talent issue. It isn’t a skill set. It’s knowing when you can play big points vs. when you can’t. It’s knowing when you can be aggressive and when you need to play defensive.
“Some coaches would be upset today, but I’m not at all. It was a 6-1 decision, but three courts going three sets against a team that has been as high as No. 37 in the rankings this year shows you the direction of this program. Is it frustrating to lose this when we know it was so close? Absolutely. The biggest thing about today is knowing that we are on the right track.”
The highlight of the day came courtesy of freshman Mariam Kurdadze in both singles and doubles action. Kurdadze teamed with fellow rookie Lindsay Dvorak in No. 2 doubles and the tandem withstood a late rally by the Hokies’ combination of Inga Beerman and Martha Blakely to earn an 8-7 win.
In No. 2 singles play, Kurdadze fell behind 3-0 early on to Jessica Brouwer. The native of The Republic of Georgia, however, went on to outscore her opponent 12-2 the rest of the way to claim a 6-4, 6-1 victory to account for Tulane’s lone point of the day.
“Mariam has an incredible ability to read exactly what her opponent does not want,” Sisk said. “It took her a couple of games today to kind of settle down, groove in and notice what the girl didn’t want to do. Once she figured out to mix it up, give this girl every ball that she absolutely hates, you see what happens.
“She’s on a winning streak, she’s doing really well right now and she’s someone who may be a freshman on paper, but she’s not a freshman in mentality. She’s a true competitor. I say that all the time about her. She’s got an amazing career ahead of her in the collegiate circuit.”
The Hokies got on the board early by taking the doubles point, 2-1, and scored the first two singles points with victories on Courts 4 and 3, respectively. The Green Wave got on the board courtesy of Kurdadze’s victory on Court 2, and the other three courts went the distance.
Virginia Tech’s Courtney Rauscher jumped out to the early advantage in No. 5 singles action with a 6-2 win over Carolina Gerber, but Gerber rallied with a 6-4, set-two win to send the match to the extra frame. From there, however, Rauscher answered with a 6-2 win to give the Hokies a commanding 3-1 lead.
It was a similar story on the remaining two courts, and in both cases Virginia Tech found a way to win. Tulane’s Marcela Fonseca won her No. 6 singles opening set over Shannon Betts, 7-6, but Betts came back with consecutive 6-4 wins to score the match’s clinching point.
On Court 1, meanwhile, Tulane’s Anna Bartenstein and Virginia Tech’s Beerman found themselves in a match that more resembled a heavyweight boxing match than a tennis competition. Beerman won the opening stanza, 6-4, but Bartenstein answered the bell to take the second set, 7-5. The Green Wave freshman held a 5-4 lead late in the third stanza and later rallied from a 6-5 deficit to knot the set at 6-all. In a tiebreaker, however, Beerman took the point, 7-2, to account for the final score.
“I tell the girls all the time that once you believe – once you truly believe – that you deserve to be on the same court as a Virginia Tech or a Duke or anybody else that has a strong program, things will happen,” Sisk said. “I told the girls today that it isn’t about heart. It’s about knowing that you are going to go out there, battle for every ball, and do what it takes to pull out a win. I think we left out mark today.
“I know Virginia Tech is going to go home today, talk to each other and say, ‘You know what? Tulane was here. We played a tough Tulane team with six true freshmen on the court.’ And that’s all we want to do. We just want to leave out mark this first year and I think we very much did that today. It’s tough not being on the other end of this 6-1 decision, but we were right there.”
The Green Wave return to action on Monday, March 16, when they play host to Conference USA foe Tulsa at 2 p.m. at the Goldring Tennis Center, before closing out a five-match homestand against Oregon on Thursday, March 26. Admission to both matches, as well as the remaining 2009 Tulane home matches, is free.
No. 45 VIRGINIA TECH (9-3) 6, TULANE (8-9) 1
SINGLES
No. 1 – Inga Beerman (VTU) def. Anna Bartenstein (TLN) – 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2)
No. 2 – Mariam Kurdadze (TLN) def. Jessica Brouwer (VTU) – 6-4, 6-1
No. 3 – Martha Blakely (VTU) def. Lindsay Dvorak (TLN) – 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 – Holly Johnson (VTU) def. Elizabeth Hamlin (TLN) – 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 – Courtney Rauscher (VTU) def. Caroline Gerber (TLN) – 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
No. 6 – Shannon Betts (VTU) def. Marcela Fonseca (TLN) – 6-7, 6-4, 6-4
DOUBLES
No. 1 – #63 Brouwer/Johnson (VTU) def. Bartenstein/Hamlin (TLN) – 8-2
No. 2 – Dvorak/Kurdadze (TLN) def. Beerman/Blakely (VTU) – 8-7
No. 3 – Yasmin Hamza/Abby Walker (VTU) def. Fonseca/Lange (TLN) – 8-2
QUOTES FOLLOWING TULANE’S 6-1 LOSS TO No. 45 VIRGINIA TECH
TULANE HEAD COACH TERRI SISK
Overall thoughts on the match
“We’ve spent a lot of time lately about taking that next step into the ‘Big Leagues.’ I told the girls that the only thing that separates us from a Top 50 program is having seniority on the team. It isn’t a talent issue. It isn’t a skill set. It’s knowing when you can play big points vs. when you can’t. It’s knowing when you can be aggressive and when you need to play defensive. Some coaches would be upset today, but I’m not at all. It was a 6-1 decision, but three courts going three sets against a team that has been as high as No. 37 in the rankings this year shows you the direction of this program. Is it frustrating to lose this when we know it was so close? Absolutely. The biggest thing about today is knowing that we are on the right track.”
On how close she thinks her team is to becoming an elite college program
“I tell the girls all the time that once you believe – once you truly believe – that you deserve to be on the same court as a Virginia Tech or a Duke or anybody else that has a strong program, things will happen. I told the girls today that it isn’t about heart. It’s about knowing that you are going to go out there, battle for every ball, and do what it takes to pull out a win. I think we left out mark today. I know Virginia Tech is going to go home today, talk to each other and say, ‘You know what? Tulane was here. We played a tough Tulane team with six true freshmen on the court.’ And that’s all we want to do. We just want to leave out mark this first year and I think we very much did that today. It’s tough not being on the other end of this 6-1 decision, but we were right there.”
On what she takes from today’s 6-1 loss to the Hokies
“We took a huge step today. This whole year, I’ve talked about baby steps. Today, baby steps weren’t the case. We took two giant leaps forward. Granted, the rest of the season we have some very talented teams coming to play us. But knowing how we battled today showed this young team exactly what we can do when we’re set up and we’re in the right position. I believe that we are. This was a huge step for us today.”
On what the key difference was in today’s match
“The major issue today – what separates us from Virginia Tech – is playing not to lose. We’ve done that in a couple of matches this year. In those 4-3 matches that we lost, we played not to lose. Today, we played not to lose. We played tight within a point and when you play tight, momentum shifts. When momentum shifts, it’s tough to get it back and turn it around. From that standpoint – with momentum shifting and knowing what we need to do – that’s because of our lack of collegiate experience. I would say that experience is a factor, but it’s more of a case of playing not to lose.”
On the performance of Mariam Kurdadze
“Mariam has an incredible ability to read exactly what her opponent does not want. It took her a couple of games today to kind of settle down, groove in and notice what the girl didn’t want to do. Once she figured out to mix it up, give this girl every ball that she absolutely hates, you see what happens. She’s on a winning streak, she’s doing really well right now and she’s someone who may be a freshman on paper, but she’s not a freshman in mentality. She’s a true competitor. I say that all the time about her. She’s got an amazing career ahead of her in the collegiate circuit.”
VIRGINIA TECH HEAD COACH TERRY ANN ZAWACKI-WOODS
Overall thoughts on the match
“It was a great match and I have to give a lot of credit to Tulane. Their girls came out, fought hard and really made us play. It easily could have been 4-3 the other way around. It was very competitive, very close, and there was a lot of effort out there today.”
On her team’s performance down the stretch
“I think they just came out and played with a lot of heart. We’ve been practicing a lot, getting outdoors again and playing consistent out here and understanding how to play with the wind blowing. It was a case of us really battling it out to the end and I thought we did a good job of closing out these third sets and showing up today.”
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