College Tennis
Men: Rider University 7, Wagner College 0
Women: Rider University 7, Wagner College 0
Ashed and Haight improve to 5-0 in doubles play
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-It wasn't win number 200. Rider head coach Ed Torres passed that milestone last week. But coach Torres was just as happy for wins 201 and 202 as both the Rider University men's and women's tennis teams swept Wagner College in a non-conference match Sunday afternoon. "We played a team that was rebuilding," said Torres. "Wagner had a depleted team due to some injuries but we also played well today."
For the Rider (1-4) women, senior Kristina Paich (Stanhope/Lenape Valley Regional) won at first singles 6-1, 6-0 with freshman Marly Roche (Sussex/High Point Regional) winning at second singles 6-0, 6-1.
"Kristina is always a very reliable player," said Torres. "Whether she wins or loses she is always going to give you 100 percent. It just happens to be that today she was a lot better then the girl that she played, but she is a very reliable player. She has been that way for four years now."
"Marly Roche also played very, very well," Torres said. "She is probably our most consistent player. She does it match after match and win or lose she is still very consistent. She does not make many errors. It took her a few matches to get acclimated to the collegiate game, but she has become a solid player."
For the Rider (2-5) men, freshman Greg Anastasio (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) won 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 at first singles with senior Will Haight (Sewell/Washington Township) winning 6-3, 6-2 at second singles. Haight and senior Marc Ashed (Vineland) teamed up for an 8-5 win at first doubles with Ashed winning 6-0, 6-0 at fourth singles. Haight and Ashed are 5-0 at first doubles this fall.
Also for the women's team, sophomore Tricia Ashmore (Sparta) won 6-4, 6-0 at third singles and teamed up with Roche for an 8-2 win at first doubles, their third win of the fall season.
"Tricia got off to a bad start in her first set," Torres said. "She made a lot of errors and was beating herself. I spoke with her in between sets and told her to calm down and play your game and if she did that, she was going to win. She listened and ended up winning 6-0. She just had to calm herself down and not rush herself. She hits very good ground strokes and she was making errors that she normally does not make. She tightened up in that second set."
Paich teamed up with sophomore Danielle White (Reading, Pa./Reading) to win 8-2 at second doubles.
Junior Mallory Garbaravage (Little Egg Harbor/Pinelands Regional) and freshman Alexa Manforti (Toms River/Toms River HS South) also won their singles matches.
Also for the men's team, freshmen Ryan Carpenter (Sahuarita, Ariz./Sahuarita), Drew Laverty (Mount Royal/Kingsway Regional) and Milo Milosovici (Florence) all won in straight sets in singles play with Carpenter and Laverty each picking up their first collegiate win.
"Milo is primary a singles player," Torres said. "He is just learning how to play doubles on the collegiate level. For his high school in Florence (NJ), he played number one singles and never really got to play doubles. He has a big serve and can volley so he has the potential to be a very good doubles player; he just has to gain the experience. He is improving very rapidly so I expect that he is going to become a good player."
Anastasio and Laverty won 8-0 at second doubles with Milosovici and freshman John Spellman (Toms River/Toms River HS South) winning 8-2 at third doubles.
The Rider women defeated Wagner 6-1 in 2008 in Lawrenceville and posted a 4-3 win at Staten Island over the Seahawks in 2007.
The Rider men defeated the Seahawks 7-0 in 2008 in Lawrenceville and 7-0 in 2007 at Wagner.
The men's team travels to West Long Branch to face Monmouth on October 13 for a 3:00pm match with the women's team traveling to Jersey City for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match against Saint Peter's October 14 at 3:00pm.
-RU-
