By Jeffrey Werner – STAFF WRITER
Hofstra men’s and women’s tennis completed back-to-back shutouts over the St. Francis Terriers on Sunday. The men’s team finished a 7-0 win while the women’s squad won 5-0 over St. Francis Brooklyn.
It was the first time the Pride stepped onto the outdoor courts for the spring, and they faced some chilly conditions but were unfazed by it.
The women’s team was first to step onto the courts and didn’t miss a step. The Pride did not let the Terriers score a single point in the entire dual meet.
The doubles were able to get the first point of the match as the duos of Sarah Bowen and Carmen Pestano, Louise Lopez and Bianca Derrick, as well as Giulia Leone and Bianca Posa swept the Terriers from winning a set and swept the Terrier doubles 8-0 three consecutive times to secure the first point in the dual meet.
The singles bracket was the same story as the doubles with Bowen, Lopez, Leone, and Posa once again kept their opponents off the board with four straight 6-0, 6-0 decisions. The Pride earned four more points to clinch the win for Hofstra, after the last two singles matches were cancelled due to the harsh weather. The Pride improved their record to 6-1.
The men’s team was able to continue the impressive performance as they claimed a 7-0 victory over the Terriers. The doubles came onto the courts opened the match with Niko Vulinovich and Beau Wills taking the first match by a score of 8-1. Then Ricky Hendler and Stuart MacLeod came claimed the second game in doubles by a score of 8-3. Finally, Ari Richman and Leonardo Pires won the third game to give Hofstra the first point of the meet.
The singles bracket followed up and signs were pointing in the Pride’s favor for victory. Wills(6-3, 6-4), Richman (6-3, 6-0) and Vulinovich (6-2, 6-2) won the first three singles matches to clinch the win for the Pride.
The two matches that stood out in the Hofstra shutout came afterwards with Leonardo Pires’ sweep over Sacha Singh by winning both sets 6-0. The second matchup was Ricky Hendler against Andrew Proto, which Hendler surrendered one game on his way to a 6-1, 6-0 win. Stuart MacLeod finished the dual meet with a 6-3, 6-0 decision win over St. Francis’ Milos Vukicevic and the Pride improved to 5-3 on the year.
The next matchup for the Hofstra women’s team is against Manhattan College on March 25 at the Hofstra Outdoor Tennis Courts starting at 3:00 p.m.
While the men’s team joins the women’s on March 27 against University of Hartford at Hofstra’s home courts. Both will start against the Hartford Hawks at 12:00 p.m.
