Over the weekend, the women’s tennis team (8-3) swept both Seton Hall University (4-6) and the University of Rhode Island (4-3), winning both matchups 7-0. In a show of complete dominance, the team only conceded three sets between the two matchups.
The weekend’s successes follow Bruno’s close 4-3 win at Boston College and 2-5 loss to Baylor University the weekend before. Heading into Friday, the team had already earned three 7-0 sweeps out of just nine matchups this season.
Despite commanding victories, Head Coach Lucie Schmidhauser said that at this early point in their season, the team is focused on identifying “what’s working” and “what needs to get better.”
“We’re really trying to focus on improving everyone’s game,” she said.
On Friday, the team got off to a strong start against Seton Hall, taking all three doubles matches.
On the third line, Anne Yang ’27 and Ali Maguy ’28 secured the first doubles win with a 6-3 victory. Not long after, Dani Ben-Abraham ’27 and Hannah Shen ’27 locked up the doubles point with a win at the first line: After breaking and being broken back, the pair fought another game from their opponent’s serve and sailed to a 6-4 win. Finishing their second-line match in style, Abigail Lee ’29 and Chloe Qin ’29 both approached the net on match point, with Lee’s fiery overhead sealing the 6-4 win.
With one point already on the board, the Bears went into their singles matches hungry for more. On adjacent courts, Maguy, Ben-Abraham and Yang all secured early breaks.
At the third line, Yang cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Seton Hall’s Jaden Davidson. In a similarly decisive fashion, Ben-Abraham took the first set of her match 6-0. Up 5-1 in the second, she delivered a pinpoint forehand volley to the corner on match point — serving up a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win at second line.
At the first line, Maguy breezed through the first set 6-1. Up 5-3 in the second set, she brought the game to deuce with a forehand winner before sealing it on her opponent’s error — securing the match 6-1, 6-3 and Bruno’s win over Seton Hall with four points.
With Bruno’s win secured, the three remaining singles matches continued on. At the fifth line, Bella Hu ’28 struggled to find her rhythm in the first set and dropped it 1-6 to Seton Hall’s Rachel Benoualid — but coming back with renewed energy, Hu took the second set 6-2 and shifted the tide of the match.
“In that first set, I was just making a lot of loose errors,” Hu said, adding that Schmidhauser reminded her to play the way she practices — “full of energy.” Although Hu came into the match intending to stay calm, she said that “doesn’t really work” for her. After the first set, she made a point to get her energy back up.
“I sprinted back and then started jumping a lot, (and) started yelling a lot more,” she said. “My energy really shifted.”
With Hu and Benoualid tied at one set, the pressure was on to keep the momentum. Benoualid broke Hu to bring the set score to 2-3 — but Hu broke back. Her comeback would not be stopped, and she won the next 3 games, securing the match win 6-3.
In the last game of the match, Hu pulled ahead to 40-30. Battling for the win, Hu and her opponent fought a stunning 24-shot baseline rally. Hu sealed the point, and the match, with a clean backhand slice that Benoualid returned long.
“It was definitely a good turnaround,” Hu said.
Sari Woo ’28 delivered the most commanding win of the day — suffocating her opponent to earn a 6-0, 6-0 victory at fourth line.
Reflecting on her performance, Woo said she was focused throughout the match. “I just tried to keep my errors (down) and hit heavy balls,” she said.
Friday’s sweep would not be completed without another nail-biter match. At the sixth line, Qin got off to a strong start against Seton Hall’s Ellie Coe, taking the first set 6-2. But Qin lost momentum and handed the second set to Coe 1-6. Down to a 10-point tiebreak for the match, both teams gathered to cheer on the last match of the night.
Qin struck first — her inside-out forehand winner put her up 2-1. Qin stayed ahead and set up match point with a blazing backhand.
A close battle to the end, Coe warded off 2 match points — which were remarkable 13- and 12-shot rallies. But looking at a third, Qin executed a beautiful swinging volley followed by a backhand winner — clinching the win 6-2, 1-6, 10-7 and completing the team’s sweep.
Ahead of Saturday’s matchup, Schmidhauser said the team was looking forward to playing URI, whom they beat 5-2 last year with multiple close matches.
“When we played them it was a tough match,” she said. “This is the time to really keep training that competitive muscle.”
Blazing through the weekend, the team started Saturday’s matchup against URI with three doubles wins. At first line, Ben-Abraham and Shen battled to a 7(7)-6(4) tiebreak victory. On the second line, Lee and Qin earned a clean 6-2 win, a scoreline matched by Yang and Maguy at third line.
In the singles matches, Bruno continued to dominate. At first and second lines, Maguy and Ben-Abraham both claimed their matches 6-3, 6-1.
After dropping the first set 3-6 — Brown’s only lost set of the day — Yang battled for a comeback at third line. Yang won the second set 6-4 and powered to a 10-1 win in the deciding tiebreak.
Following up on her strong performance on Friday, Woo claimed her fourth-line match 6-4, 6-3. After facing a close first set, Francesca Saroli ’29 cruised through the second to a 7-5, 6-3 win at fifth line. Rounding out Bruno’s dominant weekend, Qin notched a sixth-line win 6-3, 6-3.
The team will look to extend their win streak against Marist University, whom they will play at the Pizzitola Center at 11 a.m. this Saturday.
