It is tough to compete as a team after losing six games to start the season, but for the Suffolk University women’s tennis team, it was nothing but a little bump in the road. The Lady Rams fought back against conference opponents to make it into the postseason as a high seed.
The Lady Rams lost to old rival Emerson this past Friday 6-3, but bounced right back the next day by getting a big conference victory against St. Joseph of Connecticut 8-1. This was the final game of the regular season for the Lady Rams landing them the third seed in the GNAC playoffs.
After that two-game winning streak, the Lady Rams finished off their regular season with an overall record of 4-8, but a conference record of 4-2. Suffolk’s only two losses in the GNAC were against the two top seeds ahead of itsthird overall seed, Simmons and Johnson & Wales.
Lady Ram Rebecca Eshoo, who won six singles matches for Suffolk this season, is beyond proud of each of her teammates.
“It’s exciting to get the third seed in the GNAC,” said Eshoo. “Our entire team has been improving so it’s great to see that our hard work has paid off.”
With the third seed, the Lady Rams will have the challenge of playing the bottom seed of the playoffs, who happens to be Albertus Magnus in the GNAC quaterfinals.
The Lady Rams beat Albertus Magnus 8-1 in their regular season match up which was only about two weeks ago.
“Playing Albertus Magnus in the first round will be in our advantage,” said Eshoo. “We’ve beat them during the regular season, so the team and I are confident in playing them Wednesday.”
Although Albertus Magnus is a potential win, anything can happen, and it will be a difficult road ahead for the Lady Rams. Top seed Simmons, is undefeated in the conference this season, and Johnson & Wales only has one loss, which came from Simmons.
Even if the Lady Rams make it to the semifinals, all odds will be against them since their two conference losses came from Johnson & Wales and Simmons.
“No matter what team we are up against, we always go in expecting a hard match,” said Eshoo. “Even if the team is not our best competition, we play the same game we would if we were up against our toughest competition. The postseason will be a challenge but our team has come a long way since the beginning of the season. We have been practicing hard in preparation for postseason and our confidence is at a high right now.”
The Lady Rams will face Albertus Magnus Oct. 23 at 6:30. If the Lady Rams win they will go on to face the second seed in the conference Johnson & Wales. That game would be Saturday, Oct. 26 at a time yet to be announced.
If the Lady Rams can bring home at least one playoff win, that would be a tremendous accomplishment that would have seemed like a baffling possibility at the beginning of the season, but the Lady Rams really showed up to compete as one of the top teams in this years GNAC.
