On an unseasonably beautiful and warm October day, UB's women's tennis team posted another win against local rival Canisius to go to 2-0 on the season.
This was not just a mere win; this match was complete and utter domination from top to bottom. The final score was 7-0, and even those numbers are not indicative of how well this team played on Wednesday. The entire team did not drop a single set all day, and the total scores in games was an amazing 96-20, in favor of the home team.
The Bulls jumped out to a blistering start in doubles when sophomore Lisa Wittman and senior Anne Schule smoked Canisius' Anne Nguyen and Cori Newhouse, 8-4.
UB Coach Kathy Twist was very pleased with their match, saying, "Anne and Lisa were new to playing first doubles, they proved to be up to the challenge."
The second-doubles dynamic duo of UB freshmen, Sheri Ugowski and Wendy Rose blew rivals Andrea Meyer and Miranda Gasbarro off the court in an 8-1 stomping. Rounding out doubles action was the UB team of senior Kristin Karlinski and freshman Anne-Marie Mills beating Alesha White and Cara Fahey 8-4 at third doubles.
"I was proud of the way our freshmen played, they showed great poise and maturity," said Twist.
Things got even uglier for Canisius in singles competition. Rising freshman star Michaela Kollarova posted an awe-inspiring 6-0, 6-0 victory over Nguyen, who barely had time to get out of her warm-ups before she was headed to the showers.
Junior Karen Maynard kept the winning trend going in posting a 6-1, 6-3 win over Newhouse. In third singles, UB senior Shani Amarasinghe plastered Meyer with a rousing 6-0, 6-1 win. Senior Jennifer Wong won her match in dominating style, defeating Gasbarro at the four spot, 6-3, 6-1.
Fifth singles was more of the same as senior Meaghan Partelow wrecked Canisius Kristina Kaminskaya, 6-0, 6-2. Freshman Erica Zielinski pulled off the second double bagel of the day in pounding her opponent into the ground with a 6-0, 6-0 win.
"The team knew not to depend on each other for the win, they went out and took care of business individually," said Twist.
"Everyone played well today, this win will take us into the toughest part of our fall season," Twist added.
The Bulls will travel to St. Bonaventure once again this Saturday at 2 p.m. to lock horns with Marist College.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
