Tigers swing to victory

By: Katrina Le, Contributing Writer 

Towson capped off the 2016 Tiger Classic with a 3-2 record by defeating St. Joseph’s once and Rhode Island twice, but falling to Georgetown and Delaware. 

“The weekend overall went well, especially  since it was our first competition,” Assistant Coach Jamie Peterson said. “I was pleased. I knew that our two matches against Delaware and Georgetown were going to be tough, but there were lots of close matches. It was good.”

In the final match of the tournament Sunday, the Tigers swept Rhode Island 5-0. Key players included Lucy Gloninger, A.J. Gomer and the doubles team of Yevgeniya Shusterman and Nicole Shakhnazarova.

Gloninger was most successful when shooting deep left corners, which proved to be too much for opponent Emily Zargham’s backhand.

Gomer had numerous long rallies and was most successful when she played the ball just above the net, resulting in her opponent Ariel Harber hitting the ball into it.

Schusterman and Shakhnazarova rallied long and hard against opponents Rachel Smilansky and Nicole Legler. Their win is credited to deep, alternating corner shots that Smilansky and Legler were not fast enough to return.

“[The tournament went] pretty well,” Gloninger said. “I know we’re all happy with the results and that the work we put into our practices showed off in the matches.”

Gloninger finished the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, winning one doubles match and two singles matches.

Sunday, Towson also defeated St Joseph’s 4-1.

Saturday, however, was a challenging day for the Tigers as only doubles team Renate van Oorschodt and Gomer were able to pull off a win over Georgetown.

Saturday afternoon was another loss for Towson as they lost to Delaware in a close 3-2 decision. Third-seeded Shusterman and fourth-seeded Gloninger were the only two to win a match against Delaware.

In their first matchup against Rhode Island on Friday, the Tigers started the tournament with a 4-1 win. Top singles seed Shakhnazarova defeated Mihaela Condreanu 6-2 in both sets.

Rhode Island won its only point of the match in the third seed when Rachel Smilansky defeated Barbora Vasilkova 6-4 in the first set and 6-2 in the second set.

The Tigers are set to play at the Navy Tournament in Annapolis beginning Oct. 7. In the following week, the Tigers will travel to Norfolk to compete in the United States Tennis Association (USTA)/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Atlantic regional championships.

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