NEW ORLEANS – There is a saying in New Orleans that if you do not like the weather in the Crescent City, just wait a few minutes because it will no doubt change soon.
For the Tulane University women’s tennis team, Mother Nature played perhaps a cruel trick on the Green Wave as weather delays forced the team’s match against No. 57 Oregon Thursday afternoon at the Goldring Tennis Center to be halted with the home team leading 3-2 and just one set away from a possible upset victory.
But with the rain in the area forcing the match to be moved from a 10 a.m. scheduled start to a 2:30 p.m. first serve and the head coaches of each respective school agreeing to halt play at 4:30 p.m. to allow the Ducks to catch their flight back home, Tulane’s opportunity to claim its first win over a nationally-ranked opponent flew away on Oregon’s plane back to Eugene, Ore.
“The team did an incredible job today,” Tulane head women’s tennis coach Terri Sisk said. “After having to sit until 2:30 (p.m.) and then not starting with doubles, I thought they displayed true dedication to the task at hand. This was by far the best team effort I have seen of them all year.
“I think the entire team stood out today for many reasons. Every player has their own demons and three of our players conquered those today with convincing fashion.”
With the time constraints already set prior to the start of match play, doubles play was suspended and the teams went right into singles action. Tulane scored the first two points of the match courtesy of wins by Elizabeth Hamlin and Caroline Gerber on Courts 6 and 2, respectively, but Oregon rallied to tie the score with victories on Courts 1 and 2.
Hamlin downed Oregon’s Claudia Hirt with back-to-back, 6-2 decisions, while Gerber defeated Madeline Janse van Rensburg, 6-3, 6-2. The Ducks answered with a win by Pavlina Smatova over Mariam Kurdadze (6-4, 6-1) in No. 2 singles play and a 6-1, 6-3 victory by UO’s Carmen Seremeta over Anna Bartenstein in No. 1 action.
Marcela Fonseca put Tulane back on top, 3-2, with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Truie du Toit and the match hung in the balance of the performance of the Green Wave’s Lindsay Dvorak and the Ducks’ Siobhan Cavan on Court 4. Cavan won the opening set, 6-3, but Dvorak rallied in the second set to tie the match with a 6-4 victory. At that point, however, Oregon head coach Paul Reber called his team off the courts and loaded the vans for the airport.
“Leading 3-2 and then having Lindsay win the second set to only have to call the match was truly heartbreaking,” Sisk said. “However, in the big picture they now realize that they are very capable of beating a solid, ranked team such as Oregon and were so close to doing just that.
“A performance of this magnitude means so much to this young team. It shows direction, it shows what hard work can do, and it shows what playing to win feels like. As frustrating as this was not to finish the match, we are all very excited and looking forward to what lies ahead. This was a huge eye-opener for this young team.”
The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, March 28, when Tulane travels to El Paso, Texas, for a pair of road contests. Tulane will battle New Mexico State on Saturday before taking on host and Conference USA foe UTEP on Sunday. From there, the Wave travel to Kansas to take on the Kansas Jayhawks and the UMKC Kangaroos on April 10 and 11, respectively, before returning to the Goldring Tennis Center for a C-USA match against Memphis on Tuesday, April 14.
TULANE (8-10) vs. No. 57 OREGON (7-9) UNFINISHED WITH TU LEADING, 3-2
SINGLES
No. 1 – Carmen Seremeta (UO) def. Anna Bartenstein (TLN) – 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 – Pavlina Smatova (UO) def. Mariam Kurdadze (TLN) – 6-4, 6-1
No. 3 – Caroline Gerber (TLN) def. Madelie Janse van Rensburg (UO) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 – Lindsay Dvorak (TLN) vs. Siobhan Cavan (UO) – Unfinished: Cavan wins Set 1, 6-3; Dvorak wins Set 2, 6-4
No. 5 – Marcela Fonseca (TLN) def. Trudie du Toit (UO) – 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 – Elizabeth Hamlin (TLN) def. Claudia Hirt (UO) – 6-2, 6-2
COACH SISK’S COMMENTS FOLLOWING THURSDAY’S MATCH vs. OREGON
On the circumstances which caused the match to be halted before a team score could be reached
“The weather today was truly relentless. We were originally going to start at 10 a.m., but the on-and-off rain today forced us to move the match back to 2:30 p.m. At that time, the Oregon coach and myself agreed to play until either the match was decided or until 4:30 p.m.”
On her team’s overall performance against the 57th-ranked Oregon Ducks
“The team did a incredible job today. After having to sit until 2:30 (p.m.) and then not starting with doubles, I thought they displayed true dedication to the task at hand. This was by far the best team effort I have seen of them all year. Leading 3-2 and then having Lindsay win the second set to only have to call the match was truly heartbreaking. However, in the big picture they now realize that they are very capable of beating a solid, ranked team such as Oregon and were so close to doing just that.”
On who stood out for the Tulane team today
“I think the entire team stood out today for many reasons. Every player has their own demons and three of our players conquered those today with convincing fashion.”
On what today’s performance does for the team’s overall confidence
“A performance of this magnitude means so much to this young team. It shows direction, it shows what hard work can do, and it shows what playing to win feels like. As frustrating as this was not to finish the match, we are all very excited and looking forward to what lies ahead. This was a huge eye-opener for this young team.”
On Mariam Kurdadze seeing her nine-match singles winning streak snapped
“I felt bad for Mariam today. She’s been battling the flu now for about five days. Today, she just fell a little bit shy. She’s a much better player, but she didn’t feel like she had the legs or the lungs to compete for two sets. But we are all very proud of the way she did battle and did her best to represent Tulane.”
On this weekend’s road matches against New Mexico State and UTEP in El Paso, Texas
“We are looking forward to playing UTEP this weekend and NMSU. Both are solid teams and will push us to continue to get better. We want to carry this momentum on and from here we know the sky is the limit.”
--www.TulaneGreenWave.com--
