COLLEGE PARK, Md. - (Feb. 6) Georgetown traveled across town to take on the University of Maryland at the College Park campus on Sunday February 6. The Hoyas entered the match with the No. 39 ranked team in the nation with a 1-1 record. Maryland surrendered two matches immediately as they only had five players to put on the court instead of the requisite six. Leading 2-0 without having hit a ball, the Hoyas succumbed to Maryland's power and precision.
At No. 1 doubles the twin tandem of Sarada (Sr., Lake City, Fla./Texas Tech) and Lucky Ravindra (Sr., Lake City, Fla./Texas Tech) held only three of six serve games in an 8-3 loss to UMd's Delia Causevic and Jessica Johnson. The No. 2 doubles match was a struggle for Hoya rookies Hadley Muckerman (Fr., St. Louis, Mo./MICDS) and Kim Wattrick (Fr., Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./University Liggett). They were defeated 8-0 by Chrissie Terrill and Catherine Valantine. Georgetown won the No. 3 doubles match by virtue of default and knotted the match at 2-2.
In the No. 5 singles match, Caroline Marshall (So., Pittsford, N.Y./Harley) battled Stacy Walkowitz and could have fared much better with more consistent serving. Marshall fell 6-2, 6-2. At No. 1 singles, Sarada Ravindra executed her game plan brilliantly, yet she won only two games in a 6-2, 6-0 loss to Causevic. Junior Megan Crotty (Spring Lake, N.J./Manasquan) saw her first singles action of the year at No. 2 singles against the Terps' Jessica Johnson. Several exchanged service breaks kept the first set close, but Johnson eventually bested Crotty, 6-3, 6-0. At No. 3 singles, senior captain Missy Mendes (Sr., Summit, N.J./Oak Knoll) hoped to change the Hoyas' fortunes, but her opponent, Terrill, responded not only with patient defense but also alarming consistency on offense. Mendes hit well from the baseline, but nothing fazed Terrill in her 6-1, 6-0 victory. Hoya Lauren Mendes (Sr., Summit, N.J./Oak Knoll) went up against Valentine at No. 4 singles. Valantine's mid-court game kept Mendes off balance throughout as short groundstroke replies and short second serves was punished with ease. Mendes did get to offensive position several times in the second set, but that success didn't show up on the scoreboard as Valantine won, 6-1, 6-1. Maryland also defaulted at No. 6 singles.
The Hoyas appeared to improve on last year's performance. Granted the final score of 7-2 looked immeasurably better than last year's 9-0, but the two wins were defaults, not team points earned by the Hoyas. However, in the matches that were played, Georgetown won three games in two doubles matches this year as compared to two games in three matches last year, and twelve games in five singles matches as compared to ten in six singles matches a year ago. The Hoyas 1999-2000 season record now stands at 1-2. Georgetown is off this week but faces local rival George Mason on February 19, at the Burke Racquet Club in Burke, Va. at 6:45 p.m. and Howard on February 20, at the Montclair Country Club in Dumfries, Va. at 8:45 a.m.
