SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Despite taking the ever-important doubles point to open the match, the Bryant University women's tennis team dropped its first Northeast Conference match of the season to LIU Brooklyn, 4-3, Tuesday afternoon in Puerto Rico.
On another scorching afternoon in the Puerto Rico sun, the Bulldogs got off to a great start in doubles action, winning the no 1. And no. 2 doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead over the Blackbirds. The tandem of junior Rosie Bird (Hamilton, New Zealand) and freshman Ryan Brown (Austin, Texas) stayed perfect as duo topping Shana Louwers and Lisa Maas, 8-6, at the no. 1 spot. After trading points back-and-forth, the Bryant tandem pulled ahead, 5-4, before eventually taking the match, 8-6. Freshmen Marion Bouillin (San Diego, Calif.) and Briana Leonard (Westford, Mass.) took care of business at the no. 2 spot securing the doubles point with a 8-3 victory over Katya Yegoreychnko and Isabella Wagener.
In singles action, Bouillin came out strong in the top spot vs. Louwers, firing overpowering groundstrokes to take the first set, 6-0. In the second set, Louwers' big serve brought her all the way back, taking triple match point away from Bouillin, and eventually winning 7-5. The third set was all louwers as she went on to blank the freshman, 6-0, to take the point.
At no. 5 singles, Leonard put together a huge comeback victory vs. Nancy Zonneveld, taking the final two sets, 6-3, 6-4, after dropping the first set.
"Overall, this was a very disappointing loss," said head coach Barbara Cilli. "We had our opportunities to take this match and did not take advantage of them, however, I am very proud of the way Briana took her match and turned it around after the first set, showing a lot of maturity during some critical moments."
"This was a prime example of how we need to compete at every spot and we will spend the rest of our season working towards turning this around."
The Black and Gold will look to turn their spring break trip around when they face off with Big East-foe Seton Hall on Wednesday.
For all the latest news on the Bryant University women's tennis team, visit BryantBulldogs.com.
