By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR
The Hofstra Pride played perfectly in three straight shutouts versus Manhattan College 5-0, University of Hartford 7-0 and Monmouth University 7-0. The Pride improved their record to 9-1 on the season and is currently riding the coattails of a five-meet winning streak.
Wednesday’s matchup versus the Manhattan Jaspers became the second straight time the Pride shut out a team 5-0.
The Pride and the Jaspers competed only in the singles bracket and Hofstra took full advantage of the sole bracket.
Carmen Pestano and Bianca Posa were the highlights of the match for Hofstra, each posting 6-1, 6-0 decisions against their Manhattan opponents.
Sarah Bowen started the first match of the singles bracket and finished strong with a 6-1, 6-1 decision to get the Pride early on the board.
Louise Lopez won the second singles match against Caitlin Bricketto by a 6-2, 6-3 decision.
Pestano’s decision-win over Manhattan’s Alyssa Rosello secured the team’s win over the Jaspers.
Hofstra showed no mercy with Bianca’s 6-1, 6-1 decision over Shivani Patel, and Posa capped off the dual meet with her victory versus Diana Onichshenko for the shutout win.
Friday’s meet versus Hartford marked the fourth straight win by the Pride and consisted of mirrored results vs. the Hawks.
The doubles bracket consisted of three straight 6-2, 6-2 decision-wins from the teams of: Sarah Bowen/Cramen Pestano, Bianca Derrick/Louis Lopez as well as from Guilia Leone/Bianca Posa.
The singles bracket consisted of six straight wins to clinch the meet; Bowen started the bracket versus Katherine Long and came out on top 6-2, 6-3.
Lopez repeated with a 6-1, 6-2 decision-win over Hatford’s Emily Sneddon. Pestano kept the momentum going with a 6-3, 6-4 decision against Skylar Schaar. Leone won her singles bracket by a 6-2, 6-2 decision versus Meredith Heitland.
The shutout was on the verge of collapsing in the last two singles match when Bianca Derrick lost the first set 3-6 to Madeline Makings. But Derrick pulled together and won the next two 6-2, 10-5 to keep the shutout intact.
Bianca Posa lost the first game 1-6 but came back to win 7-5, 10-7 to complete the shutout win against Hartford.
On Sunday’s meet, Bowen got the Pride off on the right foot in with a shutout 6-0, 6-0 win in the first singles matchup.
Lopez and Leone posted the same results with 6-1, 6-1 decision-wins in their singles match respectively.
Pastano won her solo match against Farrah Smoke in 6-4, 6-0 fashion.
Hofstra completed the final two matches of the singles bracket with flying colors once Derrick won hers by a 6-3, 6-1 decision and Posa closed the bracket with a 6-0, 6-2 decision-win.
The doubles bracket and the Pride swept in all three matches for the shutout win over Monmouth.
The next dual meet for Hofstra women’s tennis squad comes up on the road versus Marist College. The meet starts on March 31 at 3:00 p.m.
