Courtesy FAMU Sports Info
Florida A&M University’s women’s tennis team defeated Albany State University 7-0 in their season’s home opener Sunday after falling 1-4 to Florida State University Saturday.
The Lady Rattlers swept the Lady Golden Rams in both singles and doubles' matches in FAMU’s first victory of the season.
FAMU’s head coach Rochelle Goldthreate thought that her players needed to work on finishing their games after their lost to the Seminoles Saturday, and was pleased with their focus in Sunday’s game.
“We played very well, we came out and accomplished what we needed to accomplish,” Goldthreate said.
“We dominated the team that we were playing, we finished points more in our matches compared to the team we played yesterday. We were more focused in finishing the product.”
FAMU’s team captain and a lone senior, Elysia Ortiz, recorded FAMU’s only singles’ victory in Saturday’s loss to the Seminoles. Ortiz thought she was more aggressive in Sunday’s win.
“I was playing well last night so the momentum kind of carried over,” Ortiz said.
“I had the same mindset like I did yesterday, just putting a lot of balls in the court. I was looking for opportunity balls coming in and being aggressive.”
The team was able to cruise past the Golden Rams, FAMU junior Alexis Dean attributes the success to facing a better team in Saturday’s loss to Florida State University.
“Last night’s game was more of a challenge for us,” Dean said. "This game we focused on what we need to work on, just focusing on my strengths and weaknesses in my game and trying to win.”
FAMU will face Air Force Academy Sunday, and head coach Goldthreate hopes that they will continue finishing the way they did against Albany State.
“Just making sure that we’re staying consistent and finishing throughout the game, and staying mentally focused. Making sure that we get better each match,” Goldthreate said..