NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — The Bard Women's Tennis team (2-2) took a quick ride over to New Paltz (4-0) on Friday.
The Raptors made the Hawks fight for each win.
At No. 1 doubles,
Hanna Okalava/
Maya Kelly lost to Justine Stanejko/Isabel van der Veen. The Hawks' van der Veen sealed it on a difficult half volley hit for a winner.
At No. 2 doubles, Sydney Sladicka/Angelica Gabriel won over the Raptors' pair of
Victoria Bagatcholon and
Isa Santos, winning 80% of points on their first serve . Bard showed flashes of their best play, with multiple winners off of the forehand wing.
The Raptors' third duo of
Malaya Zabala-Cornejo/
Jesse Radzik was able to get a game on Olivia Kunz/Nina Genzone, giving the team confidence going into singles.
Okalava battled New Paltz's Stanejko at the No. 1 singles spot, where in the first set, she forced seven errors from the Hawks' top player. The second set was tight, but her opponent was able to pull away with the win in the end.
Kelly played No. 2 singles against Sladicka, who sealed the match with a backhand volley winner. Close games and long rallies were the name of the game, especially as the match wore on.
At No. 3 singles, Zabala-Cornejo faced van der Veen, taking the second game of the second set on her serve. Van der Veen rallied back, closing the match with a serve out wide to force an error from the Raptor first year.
At No. 4 singles, Santos headed to deuce against Amirah Alston at various stages of the match, but those crucial points went the Hawks player's way.
Bagatcholon played in the No. 5 singles spot, where she lost against the Hawks' Kunz. Many of the Raptor's shots — including match point — were inches from the baseline but sailed just out.
Finally, at No. 6, Radzik ran down many of Gabriel's shots and battled until the last point. At 1-5 in the second set, Radzik came back from 15-40 down to break Gabriel. New Paltz's first year had the final say, breaking back to love, hitting two winners in the final game on the way to the win.
The Raptors have a quick turnaround. Their next match is tomorrow when they take on Lehman at 12 p.m.
