Something had to give Wednesday afternoon at Reeves Courts: either the three-match winning streak of AU Women's Tennis's or the six-match streak of visiting University of Maryland-Baltimore Country. In the end it was AU's streak, and Kristina Georgieva's rackets, that gave out as the Eagles dropped the match to the Retrievers, 5-2.
"I don't know, it was just a bad day overall," said Georgieva, the Eagles' top singles player. "I broke my racket and had to play with somebody else's, I was getting upset with myself."
Georgieva had to toss out a pair of rackets after breaking strings as she dropped her singles match in two sets, the last one a tight 7-5 decision to UMBC's Tia Kaasalainen. She lost the deciding game with a return to the net after grumbling in frustration throughout the match, which was characteristic of the difficulty of the afternoon.
"It was just kind of odd and I was a little scared to hit the ball," she said. "But still, that can't be an excuse."
Georgieva teamed with senior Katarina Kollarova to win AU's only doubles match, but it was a tough outing overall for AU (12-8, 3-2 Patriot League). Freshman Julia Colarusso's 18-match doubles winning streak dropped at the hands of the Terriers (8-4), as they took the doubles point.
The only players to end on the winning side of singles matches were Kollarova at the second spot and junior Sasha Zerkalova at the third spot. Kollarova's victory fit in with her late trend of superb play. She has now taken seven consecutive singles matches, the longest streak ever for one of AU's most reliable players.
Zerkalova reached a similar milestone; with her win, it was her personal-best fourth in a row.
AU plays its last home match of the season this Saturday as it hosts George Washington on Senior Day. The Eagles then travel to Georgetown before the PL Championships begin April 17. They will try to do one better than their performance last year in, when they lost in the title match. The loss didn't seem to affect Georgieva's feelings on her team's prospects for doing so.
"I think we'll be ready," Georgieva said.
