The action came to an end on the hardcourt this weekend as the tennis season concluded for the NYU men’s and women’s squads. While the men looked to bounce back from a loss to Emory University last Thursday, the women hoped to finish a strong season with an impressive finish in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Men

After having trouble against Emory last week, the Violets continued to struggle against Case Western Reserve University, losing 7-2. Their lone victories both came in singles play, courtesy of juniors Umberto Setter and Matt DeMichiel.

Thankfully, the team was able to bounce back on Saturday to finish the season with a win, defeating the University of Rochester 6-3. The Violets were nearly flawless in singles play, taking five out of six matches. Setter and DeMichiel continued their strong weekend with two more straight set wins, while freshman Yanik Parsch and sophomore Samuel Khoshbin also cruised their way to victories. With a little extra effort, freshman Benedict Teoh battled his way through three sets to earn the win against Ben Shapiro. The faces of victory were familiar in the doubles match, with the duo of Teoh and DeMichiel were the lone NYU winners, defeating Rochester’s combo of Ian Baranowski and Kevin Hunt 8-4.

The Violets finished the competition in seventh place and will now look to the future to fill a couple of gaps. David Zumwalt and Sidd Thangirala will depart this year as the team’s only two seniors, leaving room for plenty of growth for most of the Violets next season.

Women

The ladies also had mixed results down south, but finished the season similarly strong. Ranked in the top 30 according to the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, the Violets dropped their first match of the weekend to Brandeis University 7-2. Shut out in doubles play, the team’s high moments came during singles, where senior Carmen Lai and junior Laila El Dessouki picked up straight set victories.

The tide turned on Saturday, as the Violets easily outclassed the University of Rochester 8-1. It was a dominant performance from beginning to end, as the Violets went a perfect 6-0 in singles and took two out of three in doubles. Lai and El Dessouki each picked up their second wins of the weekend. Meanwhile, freshmen Fleura Shiyanova and Vanessa Scott, senior captain Madeline King and sophomore Nicole Schnabel were all winners in straight sets. The teams of Lai and Shiyanova and King and El Dessouki finished the year strong in doubles as well, with each couple earning 8-2 wins. All of this was good enough for a seventh-place finish in the UAA Championship.

The women’s team will have a slightly larger gap going into next season, with three seniors departing. King, Lai and Jazmin Colling are all moving on, leaving room for fresh new talent in the future.

Email Michael Thompson at [email protected].