Spider Sports Recap: Week of April 22

Women’s Tennis

April 24: Win 4-0 vs. University of Dayton, Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

The women’s tennis team swept Dayton 4-0 in its matches on Wednesday during the first round of the A-10 Championship Tournament. Senior Ana Ramirez secured the 4-0 victory for the Spiders when she beat Kristina Benjamin (6-2, 6-2).

April 25: Win 4-3 vs. University of Massachusetts, A-10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

In the longest match of the tournament, UR women’s tennis beat UMass 4-3. With the match tied at 3, it came down to junior Dessi Zlateva, playing No. 3 singles. Zlateva won the first set (6-3), lost the second set (5-7) and came back to win the third set (7-5). This victory moved the team to the A-10 semifinals. This is the second straight season the Spiders have made the semifinals.

April 26: Win 4-1 vs. George Washington University, A-10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

The women’s tennis team defeated George Washington, which was seeded ahead of UR (second and sixth seed respectively), in the semifinals on Friday. The team's 4-1 overall victory was locked in by first-year Helene Heiberg when she defeated George Washington’s Xenia De Luna in the third set (1-6, 6-2, 6-2).

April 27: Loss 0-4 vs. Virginia Commonwealth University, A-10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

On Saturday, the women's tennis team lost the doubles point and three singles matches to VCU. The team concluded its season with a 10-10 record. This marked UR’s first finals appearance since 2012. 

Baseball

April 24: Win 12-2 vs. College of William & Mary

The Richmond Spiders baseball team beat William and Mary 12-2 on Wednesday. This game improved the team's overall record to 22-16-1. One of the 12 runs was first-year Johnny Hipsman’s first career home run.

April 27: Win 6-1 at St. Bonaventure University, Loss 0-5 at St. Bonaventure University

In the team's sixth doubleheader of the season, the Spiders won the first game against St. Bonaventure before losing the late afternoon game. The pitchers of the morning and evening game were able to hold the St. Bonaventure team to just 12 hits total. In the first game, redshirt sophomore Tim Miller earned a quality start, pitching seven shutout innings while striking out six. The pitcher in the second game, first-year Jacob Marcus struck out 14 hitters, a season high, in six innings.

April 28: Win 9-3 at St. Bonaventure University

The Spiders won 9-3, scoring nine runs on 11 hits. UR scored in the top of the fourth inning to be the first on the board when senior Kyle Schmidt scored on a wild pitch. The win improved the team's overall record to 23-17-1, and 9-6 within the A-10 Conference.

Men’s Tennis

April 26: Win 4-1 vs. Fordham University, A-10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

The men’s tennis team won its A-10 quarterfinal when it beat Fordham 4-1. The Spiders won two out of three doubles matches, securing them the doubles point. UR earned this point after first-year Campbell Erwin and junior Klein Evans bested Fordham’s Lutwin de Macar and Alex Makatsaria 7-5 at No. 3 doubles. This victory advanced the team to the next stage of the A-10 tournament.

April 27: Win 4-0 vs. Davidson College, A-10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

The men’s tennis team swept Davidson 4-0, winning the doubles point and three singles points. At No. 1 doubles, first-year Josh Keitelman and junior Matt Fernandez earned the Spiders the point with a 6-4 win against Axel Fries and Alexander Loope. With this win, the Richmond men’s team advanced to the finals against VCU.

April 28: Loss 0-4 vs. VCU, A-10 Conference Tournament at USTA National Campus, Orlando, Florida

With its first doubles point loss in six matches, the men’s tennis team lost to VCU on April 28. The team finished the season with a record of 18-6, and it reached the finals for the second time in the past three years. 

Women’s Lacrosse

April 25: Win 20-8 vs. Duquesne University, A-10 Conference Tournament at George Mason Stadium, Fairfax, Virginia

The women’s lacrosse team scored the first five goals of the game and went on to win 20-8. Redshirt sophomore Sam Geiersbach led the team with nine points, which tied the A-10 Tournament single-game record. Her five assists also tied the A-10 single-game record. Senior Mia Castagnero scored a career high-tying six goals, tying the A-10 single season record. This win brought the team's season record to 15-3. 

April 26: Win 19-4 at George Mason University, A-10 Conference Tournament at George Mason Stadium, Fairfax, Virginia

The third-seeded UR women’s lacrosse team beat the second seed, George Mason, on Friday. UR's 19 goals gave the Spiders 289 goals on the season, setting a single-season goal record. The 39 goals and 66 points recorded by UR in two games additionally set A-10 Tournament records in both categories over a two-game span. With this victory, the Spiders' season record improved to 16-3.

April 28: Win 19-18 vs. UMass, A-10 Conference Tournament at George Mason Stadium, Fairfax, Virginia

The women’s lacrosse team earned its second-straight A-10 championship title when it defeated first-seeded UMass on April 28. The Spiders came back from behind, scoring the final five goals in the last 6:47 of the game. Junior Madison Ostrick sent the game into overtime as she scored the game-tying goal off an assist from Geiersbach with four seconds left in the game. Geiersbach scored the game-winning goal at the 4:01 mark of overtime.

Women’s Track and Field

April 25-April 27: Penn Relays, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

At the Penn Relays last weekend, the women’s track team beat a 37-year-old program record in the Distance Medley Relay event with a time of 11 minutes, 18.43 seconds. The relay team, composed of sophomore Brooke Fazio, first-year Rachel Helbling, junior Maria Acosta and redshirt senior Amanda Corbosiero, finished ninth overall. The 4x800-meter relay featuring first-year Kendra Smither, Corbosiero, Acosta and Fazio finished at 8:49.89 and placed seventh overall. 

April 26-April 27: Virginia Grand Prix, Charlottesville, Virginia

In her first time competing in the event, first-year Tamar Accius won the women’s long jump with a 5.74-meter jump. First-year Tania Matthews ran an Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship qualifying time of 12.08 seconds in the 100-meter dash right after winning her section of the 100-meter hurdles.

Men’s Lacrosse

April 27: Loss 14-15 at High Point University

The Spiders lost a close game to High Point after tying the game with 1:12 left. This loss means the men's team will enter the Southern Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament as the third seed, and will play second-seeded U.S. Air Force Academy on Thursday. High Point will be seeded first and will play fourth-seeded Jacksonville University.

Men’s Golf

April 26-28: A-10 Championship, Orlando, Florida

The Richmond Spiders men's golf team had a team score of 317 (+29) in the first round of the A-10 Championship at Grand Cypress Golf Course. Play was stopped for almost two hours because of weather conditions. Senior Ben Wanichek led the team with a six-over-par 78, and was tied for 29th in the field of 55. As a team, UR was 10th out of 11 after the first round.

On Saturday, the men’s golf team finished with a combined team score of 285, three shots under par, and three shots better than any other team. Five Spiders birdied the 510-yard second hole. UR's 285 was its lowest 18-hole score since October's Autotrader Collegiate Classic, and a 32-shot improvement over Friday. The team finished Saturday ranked eighth out of 11. 

The Spiders completed Sunday's final round of the A-10 Championship with a team score of 286 (-2). The team moved up three spots on the leaderboard Sunday to finish the tournament fifth in the 11-team field at 888 (+24). Wanichek was named First-Team All-Atlantic 10 for the 2018-19 season. This was his first all-conference honor.

Contact contributor Maddie Kelley at madeline.kelley@richmond.edu.