By Jean H. Telfort
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – The Pride men’s tennis team lost a hard fought contest 2-5 to the URI March 1, 2008. The Pride failed to capitalize on home court advantage at the Hempstead Lake Indoor Tennis Center, in West Hempstead. The fast indoor courts suited the Pride’s aggressive style. The Pride held the advantage going into their first meeting against URI– Hofstra practiced on the courts throughout the week that led to the match. “[I’m] not taking anything away from the URI team…for us, this is a tough loss” Pride coach Michael Sowter said during a post- meet interview. “The team underperformed, and failed to rise to the occasion,” he added. Six singles and three doubles matches were contested for a total of seven points. Played in a pro set format, a team is awarded one point for winning two of the three doubles matches. Each singles match is worth one point, and the singles matches follow the conventional best of three sets with tiebreakers. The competition kicked off with three doubles matches, after Coach Sowter’s final words of the last practice session: “Remember Pride, pressure the net, bully through the volley, and keep the ball centered.” Doubles Competition(URI – 1, HOFSTRA – 0)
No. 1- Jeff Cote/ Jared Dorfman (URI) vs. Luka Djordjevic/ Tytus Stempniewicz (Hofstra): 8-3 “We missed a lot of first serves, and rushed to finish points too quickly,” said Djordjevic after the match. “We were not pressuring the net enough, and failed to capitalize on break point opportunities.”
No. 2- Adam Gart/ James McGuire (URI) vs. Andy Cha/ Matt Wacks (Hofstra): 8-3
“The other team was more aggressive, and we made too many unforced errors,” Cha said after the loss. “We missed a lot of first serves and volleys,” Wacks added. ” No. 3- Nicholai Hill/ Dixon Simmons (URI) vs. Alex Hosner/ Stian Tvedt (Hofstra): 6-8 Pinpoint accurate serves, laser-like returns from Tvedt and unmatched retrieval skills from Hosner wore down the URI opponents in an 8-6 win for the No. 3 Pride pair. “I had a great partner, we communicated a lot and we did what was expected of us which is playing consistent tennis,” Tvedt said.
Singles Competition
(URI – 4; HOFSTRA – 2)
No. 1 – Jared Dorfman (URI) vs. Luka Djordjevic (Hofstra): 3-6, 2-6 Djordjevic took the court and delivered a strong performance against Dorfman, the talented lefty with a dangerous serve who already accounted for one of the Pride’s doubles losses. Dorfman had no answers for Djordjevic’s penetrative shots. “I waited for my chances, and basically I won the match.” Djordjevic said. With the win, the score was leveled at 1-1. A lot was riding on the outcome of the number two, three, and four singles matches in progress nearly two hours into the contest.
No. 2 – Jeff Cote (URI) vs. Nenad Radokovic (Hofstra): 6-3, 6-1 “The whole match I could not find any rhythm in my strokes, my forehand was just awful and my serve was not there at all,” said Radokovic. The visibly shaken athlete was quick to credit his opponent for capitalizing on his lackluster performance. “Even though I could have played better tennis, credit to [Cote] for sticking to his game plan. It’s going to take a while for this loss to sink in.”
No. 3 – Henrick Almstrom (URI) vs. Tytus Stempniewicz (Hofstra): 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (4) The first set was a closely fought affair with long points and long games. With a sizzling forehand passing-shot down the line, Stempniewicz finally got a break to lead 6-5, but Almstrom broke back immediately to force a tiebreak. Stempniewicz failed to close out the set with a volley error at the net and an errant forehand while leading 6-4. Almstrom quickly capitalized on his opponent’s mistakes and secured the set in the tiebreak (8-6). The players stayed on serve throughout the third set, but neither was able to break serve until the ninth game. Stempniewicz got the first break to go up 5-4, but surrendered his next service game. Another tiebreak decided the outcome of the match.
No. 4 – Adam Gart (URI) vs. Stian Tvedt (Hofstra): 6-3, 6-4
The Pride No. 4 was tormented by his opponent who used his quickness around the court and slices to slow down the rallies, ultimately forcing errors from Tvedt.
“My expectations were very high, and I was looking forward to playing this match.” “I failed to play my game, and did not deliver.” Tvedt said.
No. 5 – Andrew Costin (URI) vs. Alex Hosner (Hofstra): 7-5, 4-2 (Hosner retires)
“We have similar game style, long, grinding points,” Hosner said. “He won a few key points in the first set, I failed to keep the ball deep enough, too many short balls, and I was doing a lot more running than he was.” Evenly matched opponents with unbelievable retrieval abilities and patience, Hosner and Costin traded blows for nearly one hour in the first set. The match took its toll on Hosner and forced him to retire in the second set.
No. 6 – Dixon Simmons (URI) vs. Matt Wacks (Hofstra): 3-6, 1-6
Wacks started strong, two aces in his first service game were followed by two more in his second, and he gave up only four points on his serve during the first six games in the first set. As the match wore on, his opponent’s struggle on serve gave Wacks all the encouragement he needed to go for punishing shots on his service returns. “I just relaxed, and played my game, did not make too many unforced errors, kept the ball deep, and, most importantly, I served well,” Wacks saidl
“We are going back to the drawing board, we need to work on our doubles tactics,” Pride Coach Sowter said. “In singles, we need to ensure that every single player performs to his full potential, a tough loss indeed and hopefully the players will use this loss as a springboard for future matches.” The Hempstead Lake Indoor Tennis Center is the Hofstra Pride men’s tennis team’s adopted home for the season.
The Pride men’s tennis team will be back in action when they host LaSalle University .on Saturday, March 15 at the Hempstead Lake Indoor Tennis Center for a 6 p.m. match.