The sun rose on a brisk and cloudy day in Knoxville, and the Lady Vols tennis team rose with it as they prepared for the third and final day of the Goodfriend Invitational. The weekend has featured universities such as Virginia, Ohio State, Arizona State, and Chattanooga.
While the results don’t count to the stat sheets yet, Saturday’s finish was not how head coach Alison Ojeda wants or anticipates her team to start off their year.
“As a tennis player, when you finish the day and you don’t feel well, somehow you have to either mentally or physically get on the court,” Ojeda said. “Finish the day feeling good so that when you come out ready to compete the next day, we’re ready to go.”
Doubles kicked off Sunday’s action. The Lady Vols were featured on three courts and came away victorious on all three.
Elim Yan and Maeve Thornton were paired once again just as they were on Saturday, matched up against Ohio State’s Shelly Bereznyak and Teah Chavez. The two pulled ahead over the Buckeyes, earning a 6-4 doubles win to start the team’s day.
The freshman pairing of Conley Raidt and Saray Yli-Piipari were next to finish, handling business over Nebraska’s Lucy Loy and Maria Taranova, the final score 6-4 in favor of the Lady Vols once again.
As the line moved along, the No. 77 duo of Leyla Britez-Risso and Vanessa Suarez made easy work of another Nebraska pairing, winning 6-3 over Emma Rizzetto and Ana Zamburek.
“I think it was a great match for me today,” Britez-Risso said. “It started with doubles, and I prefer starting with doubles. And then going into singles, it was a very consistent day.”
Through the three days, the Lady Vols have just dropped two doubles matches after going 3-0 Sunday, singles play on the other hand is taking more time to catch up to.
Raidt’s singles match came to a conclusion first, she dropped her match scoring 2-6 and 1-6 and lost in just two sets with little resistance. Virginia’s Zara Larke dominated the match from start to finish and her pressure never seemed to let up over the young Lady Vol.
Britez-Risso on the other hand continued her impressive preseason with a 6-4 and 6-3 win over Virginia’s Martina Genis Salas in two sets. Britez-Risso has not lost a single set this weekend against some tough competition, her performance is encouraging to say the least compared to how singles’ fared for the rest.
Top Lady Vols Elza Tomase and Catherine Aulia both were absent from Sunday’s contests with precautionary rest. This left Court 1 for Vanessa Suarez.
Suarez has shown all the traits a coach desires from a number one, for good reason too as she manned Kansas State’s first court all of last season. Despite all of this, Suarez was bested by Virginia’s Annebelle Xu in what was the best match on the court. The final score read 2-6, 6-4 and 5-7 in favor of Xu.
The other singles’ victory to come from today was Thorton, who defeated Megan Basil 7-5 and 6-4. The remaining court featured Elim Yan, who lost a match that felt very within reach for the freshman all game, until the final moments
The invitational has wrapped, and preparations now begin for the regular season in January, as well as a few of the girls who have qualified for the Rome Tennis Center Collegiate Invite at Rome, Georgia.
“We found out last night that we got a couple double’s teams who qualify for sectionals in Rome in a couple of weeks,” Ojeda said. “That will give them a chance to go out there and compete for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.”
