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The Maryland tennis team continued its five-game homestand as it faced the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Saturday afternoon at the JTCC. The Terps played their best match of the season as they defeated Rutgers 6-1 to improve their record to 3-7.
Maryland controlled nearly every individual match, a much different story than its last three, all of which resulted in losses. After a difficult early nonconference season, the Terps are now 1-0 in the Big Ten.
Throughout this tough season, the Terps have struggled to establish dominance during doubles play, which is something they were so successful at season. Saturday’s match was different, however, as the Terps dominated on all three courts. It’s Maryland’s second straight doubles win, as it earned the point against Princeton.
Saya Usui and Anastasiia Gevel grabbed a 6-4 win on Court 3 and, minutes later, Millie Stretton and Eva Alexandrova capped off a 6-3 win. Amber Policare and Arnelle Sullivan were leading 5-4 when their match was halted.
The Terps began singles play on fire, with five Terps winning their first sets, respectively. Then, Maryland begin to clinch one singles victory after another. First, Gevel won her match by a 6-0, 6-2 margin. Alexandrova was the next to clinch victory as she won 6-1, 6-0.
With the Terps up 3-0, all they needed was one singles win to capture their first match victory since Feb. 17. Maryland didn’t have to wait long, as Stretton won her match 6-2, 6-4 to seal the win.
Despite the match already being clinched, the Terps didn’t stop there, as Zoe Kulkarni and Policare won their matches to put the Terps up 6-0. The match concluded with Sullivan losing in a three-set tiebreaker.
Although Rutgers was playing their second road game in as many days, this was a well-deserved and much-needed victory for the Terps. This was undoubtedly the best performance of the season for Maryland, and hopefully the Terps can use this momentum to get back closer to .500.
Marylandwill look to stay undefeated in the Big Ten next weekend against Wisconsin and Minnesota at the JTCC. Those matches are on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.