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Men's Tennis
2006-07 Men's Tennis Season Review
May 9, 2007
by Jennifer Anilowski The Rhode Island men's tennis team ended the 2006-07 season with a 9-10 record and tied with Temple for tenth place at the Atlantic 10 Championship. With a relatively young squad complimented by two transfer students, the Rams managed to make tremendous strides throughout the year. The team opened its fall season with back-to-back tournaments - the Fairfield Doubles Festival on Sept. 10 and the Northeast Intercollegiate Invitational on Sept. 17. Sophomore transfer students Henrik Almstrom (Hollviken, Sweden) and Dixon Simmons (Narragansett, R.I.) made their mark early as they took home the Flight Two doubles title in Fairfield and finished second in Flight Two doubles in at the Northeast Intercollegiates. The Rams returned to action on Sept. 20 for their home-opener against Connecticut. Despite losing to the Huskies, 5-2, Rhody bounced back to record three-consecutive shutout victories with 7-0 wins over Pace, New Jersey Institute of Technology and La Salle. On Sept. 26, URI was dealt a tough loss at Bryant, where the Rams won three singles matches but picked up just one victory in doubles play. Almstrom won his match at No. 1 singles and once again teamed with Simmons for a win at first doubles. "Dixon and Henrik made for a formidable doubles team," said head coach Val Villucci. Rhody continued play on Oct. 4, losing to Quinnipiac, 6-1. The Rams later posted a 6-1 victory at Holy Cross on Oct. 10. The team finished their fall schedule at the Quinnipiac Invitational on Oct. 13-15 where Almstrom had a strong performance and made it to the quarterfinals. The spring season began slowly for the men, who suffered four-consecutive defeats before picking up their first win on Feb. 23 at Hartford. "Our biggest challenge was trying to get three strong combinations for our doubles lineup," said Villucci. "It takes time." Although the team lost to the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Feb. 3 (4-3), Simmons teamed with Adam Gart (Bedford, Mass.) for a win at No. 3 doubles and went on to win his singles match at No. 4. Partners Almstrom and freshman James McGuire (Pittsford, N.Y.) also showed improvement as they captured a doubles win at No. 1 while Simmons and Gart paired for a 4-3 win at No. 3, against St. Peter's on Feb. 10. "It was great to see that our doubles teams finally started clicking," noted Villucci. "This started raising our singles play." McGuire performed particularly well for the Rams throughout the spring, recording his seventh-straight singles victory on March 7 as the team blanked Coast Guard, 7-0. "James was a solid number five for us and, as a freshman, he performed very well and handled pressure situations like a veteran," added Villucci. "Along with his outstanding singles play, he is a great doubles player and is very versatile - and because of the versatility in his game, he is able to make many adjustments to beat different style players." McGuire's streak came to end on March 9, as Rhody fell to Brown, 7-0. The team rebounded by defeating Scared Heart on March 14, before being shut out at Coast Guard five days later. The Rams then traveled to Colorado over spring break, for matches at Air Force, Colorado College and Colorado State-Pueblo on March 19-21. Rhody fell to Air Force, 7-0, but won its next two matches, both by scores of 4-3, thanks to back-to-back sweeps in doubles action. The team returned home to Kingston for its next three matches and suffered loses to Fairfield on March 27 (6-1) and Marist on March 28 (7-0) before putting together a well-earned 6-1 victory over conference rival Fordham on March 31. Rhode Island entered the Atlantic 10 Championship as the No. 11 seeded and opened on April 5 with a match against sixth-seeded Dayton. Rhody lost to the Flyers, 6-1, but ended its season with a 4-3 win over Fordham on April 6 to finish tied for tenth in the conference.
"We didn't necessarily have any opponent that we upset this season, but we showed solid match play against some top teams," added Villucci. "Looking to next season, I expect to improve our match results with some very good recruits joining us, along with an additional transfer student. We will have a tremendous amount of depth and I feel our doubles will be a strong force. The talent level of our team will be raised next year and I think we'll have a great showing."
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