By Nick Pipitone
The Hofstra men’s and women’s tennis teams possess a special quality unlike any other teams in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Neither team has fared very well in recent years, and after the sudden resignation of 11-year head coach Bill Gerdts, both squads are led by a former player only one year removed from graduation.
So, what could Pride tennis possibly possess that no other team in the CAA does?
The answer: A close relationship between both the men’s and women’s squads.
“[The men and the women] are very tight-knit,” interim head coach Mayo Hosado said. “It’s hard to find teams like that in tennis because it is such an in-dividual sport, it’s very unusual.They think of themselves as a real team.”
Hosado coaches both the men’s and women’s team and took over for Gerdts after his sudden resignation on Feb. 1.
The camaraderie between the two teams is seen as a major positive going into the 2006 season. The teams travel together, which is fairly unusual in collegiate tennis, and have good rapport with each other, enabling them to help one another on and off the court.
After the men’s team lost in the quarterfinals to Old Dominionand the women were ousted in the opening round to Towson, the Pride could use any help it can get.
This past weekend, both teams played in the Hampton Roads Collegiate “Round-up” in Virginia Beach, Va. in its biggest matches of the young season. The tournament reinforced the positive aspects of the two squads, while exposing some of its weak spots.
“We have to work on these close matches,” senior Jill Spiritus said. “We lost a lot of heart-breaking matches this past weekend where it was a point here, a point there. I think it’s just experience, but it’s a big thing for every player.”
Spiritus had a good weekend, going 3-1 in singles play, winning three matches in straight 6-0, 6-0 sets. However, the women’s team went 1-3 in the tournament, picking up a 5-1 win over Morgan State, but losing to Norfolk State, Old Dominion and Howard.
In the loss to Norfolk State, both Valerie McDonald and Jillian Schalk lost in close threeset matches. Spiritus said the tournament was the “real start to the season,” as opposed to its season-opening loss to Long Island University Feb. 24. The squad is currently 1-4.
“This weekend was good for us to get our game together,” senior Erika Reggiana said. “This weekend was definitely stressful, but tennis is what we like to do.”
The men’s team fared much better. They finished 3-1, withthe only loss coming to No. 71 Old Dominion. Senior NikolaDjordjevic, the Pride’s top singles player, compiled a 4-1 record, along with his brother Luka Djordjevic and freshman Nena Radokovic.
After a couple of losses to Stony Brook and No. 47 Brown, the men’s team is 3-3. Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to Loyola College today in Maryland before heading to Towson for the CAA Round Robin tournament this weekend.
The Round Robin will include some of the two team’s most important conference match-ups before the CAAtournament on April 20.
“This is one of the biggest matches we will be playing this year,” Hosado said. “They showed themselves they can do it [this past weekend]. They’ll have matches every day, so it will be very tiring.
“We have a pretty intense season coming up and our players are under a lot of pressure. Hopefully we’ll be able to come back because we have two very strong teams.”
With the way these two teams play together, bouncing back is a definite possibility.