Despite the brightness of the Florida sun, the women's tennis team left Florida with dim results, losing two matches to Florida Atlantic University and No. 38 Florida International University by scores of 4-3 and 6-1, respectively, to fall to 4-8 on the season.
The team's trip to Florida represented the first outdoor matches of the spring season for the Bears. The outing was the final tune-up for Bruno before the Ivy season begins on Friday at home with Princeton.
The two-match road trip kicked off in Boca Raton against Florida Atlantic in what turned out to be a thrilling - and ultimately heartbreaking - 4-3 loss.
Brown jumped out early against the Owls by grabbing the doubles point. Daisy Ames '07 and Kara Zeder '07 handled their opponent at second doubles, 8-5, and Michelle Pautler '07 returned from injury to team up with Amanda Saiontz '07 and earn a win at third doubles by a score of 8-5.
The singles draw would decide the match. Ames continued to look sharp in a 6-4, 6-4 win at first singles, and Saiontz dominated at third singles in a 6-2, 6-3 victory. With these two victories, all the Bears needed was one more win to close out the match.
Unfortunately, the normally overachieving duo of Sara Mansur '09 and Brett Finkelstein '09 struggled. Both lost in straight sets at fifth and sixth singles, respectively.
After Anita Ivancevic '08 lost a tough three-set match, it was up to Ashley Pariser '08 to break the 3-3 deadlock and steal a victory for the Bears.
Pariser, however, came up short, losing 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, despite a gallant effort that garnered respect from her teammates.
"Ashley left it all out on the court in order to win that match," Ames said. "It was one of the hardest fought matches I have seen all season."
Even Pariser's strong effort couldn't compensate for the disappointment of the loss. Florida Atlantic was a beatable team, and the general feeling is that it was one match that slipped away from the Bears.
The Bears did not seem to be affected, however, against Florida International, despite a seemingly lopsided loss. In one of the bigger individual victories of the season, Finkelstein defeated Nikkita Fountain, who carried a 12-match win streak into the contest.
"I was still really disappointed from the Florida Atlantic match," Finkelstein said. "I was prepared to do whatever it took to win, even if it was ugly tennis."
Overall, the Bears were disappointed but not discouraged by their Florida trip. With the Ivy season set to start this weekend, the team is more focused than ever.
"With the Ivies we are really playing for something," Wardlaw said. "I expect the energy and emotion to get cranked up a notch."
