PSAL------

Private----

Misc-------

9/30/11: My First College Match

I can still remember my first collegiate match experience very vividly in my mind. At a park in New Jersey on a very cloudy and ungodly humid day, I was matched up against a foreign exchange player from Seton Hall. She had difficulty speaking English and seemed confused about how to keep score, yet her impeccable tennis skills blew me out of the water.

I remember not even running for balls because I was so nervous ... tense would have been an understatement that morning. It wasn’t until after my quick loss as well as a pep talk from a teammate that I was able to bounce back and fight hard for my wins throughout the consolation bracket.

Being able to remember my first college match, I thought it would be fun to see how it went for our current class of freshmen.

To open our Fall 2011 season, we spent the weekend playing conference team Rider University on Saturday, Sept. 17th, and then Monmouth University on Sunday, Sept. 18th. Caitlin Bricketto, who currently dominates at 3rd singles, also teamed up with senior Hilary Valenzuela at 2nd doubles to play four matches over the course of the weekend.

Dominating in their doubles matches, Bricketto and Valenzuela finished off their opponents quite soundly with an 8-0, 8-3 set of scores, respectively. On Saturday, Bricketto began her singles college career impressively with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Rider’s Michelle Carvaglio. However, on Sunday, Monmouth’s Ashley Sandler rebounded from a doubles loss and pushed Bricketto to play some great tennis. In the end, she emerged with a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 victory.

Fellow freshman Catherine Clark, who got her first shot at college tennis on Saturday against Rider, started at 6th singles. When asked how she felt, she noted “I loved my first college match. It was so much fun and so exciting! At first I was nervous because we pulled up to the National Tennis Center, and I was just awe-struck. I was just like ‘Oh my god. I can't believe we are actually playing here!’” Her nervousness seemed to disappear when she stepped onto the court, defeating opponent Maria Eldridge of Rider with a score of 6-2, 6-0.

The following day, Alyssa Rosello -- the third and final member of our freshman trio -- took over the 6th singles position in the lineup against Monmouth University. Unlike Clark, she noted that she was not nervous at all. “After watching the very first match against Rider and not playing that one, I was excited to contribute to the team,” Rosello said. She went on to contribute to our team’s 5-2 win over Monmouth, beating her opponent Liz D’Arcy by a score of 6-1, 6-2.

Despite a change in atmosphere from high school tennis, which the girls described as “much more laid back” and “more clique-y,” they adapted very quickly to the more competitive ambiance. For Manhattan College tennis, it’s safe to say it was a very successful opening weekend.

“I can’t wait ‘til our next matches and the rest of the season,” Clark notes. “It’s everything I hoped it would be.”