Boston College closed the book on its fall tennis slate with two different stops and plenty of strong results, as the Eagles split their weekend between the ITA Sectional Championships at Penn and the Michigan State Classic in East Lansing.
At Penn, Jackie Soloveychik and Bella Camacho represented BC, and Camacho came away as the runner-up in the consolation singles bracket. Her run included wins over Monika Wojick of Syracuse, Kavya Karra of Harvard by walkover, and Claire Hill of Wake Forest before Jasmine Conway of NC State edged her in Sunday’s final match, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Soloveychik opened with a win over Peien Dina of Penn, 6-1, 6-4, before falling to Eleana Yu of Duke, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. She also dropped her Thursday match to Theadora Rabman of UNC, 6-4, 6-1.
Meanwhile, Boston College sent Olivia Benton, Nadia Barteck, Gian Octa, and Olivia Cutone to the Michigan State Classic, where the Eagles put together a strong weekend across both singles and doubles. Benton, Barteck, and Cutone all went undefeated in singles, while Benton and Cutone finished 2-1 in doubles over the weekend.
Benton opened with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Marta Halbersztadt of UIC, then rolled past Anlin Xie of Minnesota, 6-2, 6-0, before beating Ellie Blackford of MSU, 6-1, 7-5. Barteck beat Pehal Kharadkar of EMU, 7-5, 6-0, then topped Ksenia Hanke of Minnesota, 7-6(8-6), 6-1, and finished with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Kamea Medora of Minnesota. Cutone also stayed perfect in singles, defeating Edit Como of UIC, 6-2, 6-2, Anali Korevar of Minnesota, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, and Kseniia Saenko of EMU, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Octa picked up a pair of singles wins as well, beating Dongle Liu of UIC, 6-2, 6-0, before falling to Jeselle Ante of Minnesota, 6-1, 6-2, and later to Aria Abalos of Notre Dame, 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 10-7.
In doubles, Benton and Cutone opened with a 7-6(7-2) win over Gabriella Rawles and Aria Abalos of Notre Dame, then dropped a 6-2 decision to Pehal Kharadkar and Kseniia Saenko of EMU, and later beat Gabby Barrera and Sarah Shahbaz of Ball State, 6-4. Barteck and Octa fell in all three of their doubles matches, losing to EMU, Michigan, and Michigan again on Sunday.
In Other News...
Boston College Has A Bigger Problem Than Its Florida State Loss
Boston Colleges 31-24 loss to Florida State in Week 10 was frustrating enough on its own, but the film also showed why the Eagles bigger concern may be what comes next. There were bright spots scattered through the afternoon, with Bo MacCormack III, Ned Boldin Jr. and Luca Lombardo all turning in encouraging moments, and Marcus Upton making an impact in the secondary. Even in defeat, there was enough individual production to suggest the roster still has pieces worth building around.
The problem is that the good moments were paired with enough uneven play to leave real questions hanging over the program. Backup quarterback Grayson Wilson had his struggles, and defensive coordinator Ted Roofs unit had trouble holding up when it mattered most. For a team trying to steady itself in the back half of the season, the loss to Florida State was only part of the issue, because the larger concern is whether Boston College can clean up the recurring breakdowns before they cost it more games. [Read more 🡒]
Florida States Youth Movement Just Changed The Feel Of This Team
Florida States win over Boston College had the feel of a team trying to reset its identity in real time. Under interim head coach Rick Stockstill, the Seminoles leaned on a younger, less established cast and still found a way to come away with a 31-24 victory, even while dealing with injuries to key players. For a program that has spent much of the season searching for stability since the dismissal of Mike Norvell, the result offered a glimpse of what a different kind of roster energy can look like.
Amari Thomas was at the center of it, handling the heavy lifting in the run game and giving Florida State the kind of physical presence it has lacked at times this fall. His two-touchdown afternoon included the decisive score late, the sort of play that can change how a locker room feels about itself. The bigger question now is whether this youthful surge was a one-game spark or the start of something more lasting as the Seminoles try to make the most of a turbulent stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Tennis Ends Fall With One Player Standing Out
Boston College wrapped up its fall slate at the Bonita Bay Collegiate Invitational, where the mens tennis team spent the weekend testing itself against Memphis, FGCU and Army. The Eagles got a full set of singles and doubles results from the event, but one name kept showing up at the top of the list: Matthew Overvelde, who led the team in singles play across the tournament.
Overveldes run gave Boston College a clear individual bright spot to close the seasons first stretch of competition, the kind of performance that can matter when the calendar turns and lineups start to take shape. With the fall now finished, the Eagles can look back on a weekend that offered both a measuring stick against outside competition and a reminder that they have at least one player trending in the right direction. [Read more 🡒]