Women's tennis falls again in ACC play

The Terrapin men's and women's tennis teams got more than they possibly bargained for this past weekend.

The women's squad, up to No. 57 in the ITA rankings and riding a wave of momentum, looked certain to finally exorcise its recent ACC history and win its first conference game since 2007 at unranked Virginia Tech. But victory eluded the team once again as it failed to come back in a 4-3 loss.

The No. 63 men's team, looking to rebound from a tough loss to No. 30 Virginia Tech, struggled against both UNC-Wilmington and Radford at home but was able to hang tough and take both matches, 4-3.

The women got off to a slow start against the Hokies (2-4, 1-1 ACC). The Terps (5-2, 0-2) dropped the first two doubles sets, 8-1, 8-4, and Jordan Hansbrough was swept in her singles match, 6-0, 6-0. After a 7-5, 6-4 victory from Jordaan Sanford put the Terps in position to gain control, a three-set, heartbreaking loss for Julia Huschke eliminated their chances.

"We came very close to coming back," coach Howard Joffe said. "Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and it's very disappointing."

Even in defeat, there were plenty of bright spots to be found in the match for the upstart Terps. Ana Belzunce continued a perfect singles season (7-0) with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Holly Johnson in No. 3 singles. Dual-sport player Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, meanwhile, continued her unbeaten play in both singles and doubles action. Along with doubles partner Sanford, she took her seventh doubles victory of the season, 8-5, and battled hard for a 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 match-ending win over Yasmin Hamza.

The men's team held strong in two tough matches at home. On Friday, UNC-Wilmington nearly escaped College Park with a critical win. Although the Terps (6-2) took the doubles point with three victories, the singles matches proved to be a challenging test. In the six singles matches, Tommy Laine was the lone Terp to win the first set. With the match tied at 3-3, Jesse Kiuru topped opponent Illia Ziamtsou with a third-set 6-0 victory that clinched the match.

And while their bout against UNC-Wilmington proved the Terps' mettle, their match Saturday against Radford could have called that same toughness into question. After taking all three doubles matches again and securing the first two victories in singles from the efforts of Sergio Wyss and John Collins, the Terps lost three consecutive singles matches, tying the overall score. Maros Horny, ranked No. 58 in the country, lost his third straight singles match, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, and Andy Magee fell short in his three-set battle.

In the last match of the day, the steady hand of Laine guided the Terps to victory. He took his match, 6-2, 6-4, improving his singles record to 7-1 on the season.

"We had a great weekend," coach Kyle Spencer said. "We didn't play our best, but the guys fought hard and were competitive in both matches. We beat two good teams this weekend. Both are likely NCAA Tournament teams."

The men's squad will play a midweek road game this Wednesday against ACC foe Boston College. The women's team will face a busy weekend as it plays Columbia on Friday and California (Pa.) and Delaware in a doubleheader Saturday.

munson@umdbk.com