When the Terrapins tennis team stepped on the court yesterday morning, something seemed different.
It wasn’t just coach Daria Panova’s dyed-pink hair, the eye black every player sported or the words “Go Terps” written on freshman Sarah Gealer’s back. It wasn’t just that it was Senior Day, the last chance for Vroni Van Berlo to shine on her home court.
It was their mindset. For the first time all season, the Terps were loose. And to Panova, they seemed closer together than they had been all season.
“It felt like a team,” Panova said yesterday. “Today, everyone was playing for [Van Berlo]. They wanted to give their best.”
Panova believes if the team mentality the Terps showed yesterday — albeit in a 7-0 loss to No. 1 North Carolina — can carry over to next season, the program will make great improvements.
The attitude certainly lasted into the postgame celebration. The Terps showed their appreciation for Van Berlo — the squad’s lone senior — in the form of a Gatorade shower.
Panova’s team stayed upbeat despite its lopsided loss. After a nail-biting 4-3 victory over No. 11 Duke on Friday, why wouldn’t the Terps be feeling good?
The Terps have been through a rough season. They have endured an eight-match losing streak, 15 losses and a winless record on the road.
But none of that mattered after Friday.
The Terps beat the Blue Devils for only the second time since 1998, notched their first ACC win of the season and ended their month-long drought in the same afternoon.
Van Berlo’s 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory at the No. 1 singles position gave the Terps the decisive point.
“It makes the entire season worth it,” Panova said Friday. “It’s the best way for [Van Berlo], on her senior weekend, one of her last matches at home, to clinch the match against Duke.”
Only minutes earlier, a victory for Van Berlo and the Terps looked unlikely. With the team score tied, 3-3, Van Berlo faced a 5-3 deficit against Blue Devils junior Hanna Mar — the No. 25 singles player in the country — in the third and final set.
But the senior never lost composure, and when Mar hit a shot into the net to end the match four games later, Van Berlo’s teammates rushed the court in celebration. The victory gave Panova, a first-year coach, her first ACC win with the program.
“It made the season,” Gealer said. “It was a really great way to finish up this year.”
The Terps (6-15, 1-10 ACC) caught Duke (14-8, 5-5) at the perfect time. Three players were out with injuries, meaning the Blue Devils could only field a team of five. They had to forfeit a singles match and start the match down 1-0.
With five players, Duke also didn’t have enough players for the No. 3 doubles position and had to forfeit another match. The Terps needed only one victory from either of their other two pairings to clinch the doubles point and take an early 2-0 lead.
Van Berlo and Gealer — the Terps’ no. 1 pairing — delivered, winning 8-5.
After the Terps dropped the first three singles decisions and fell behind 3-2, freshman Gabriela Srodowski recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory to set up Van Berlo’s heroics.
So yesterday, the Terps entered their Senior Day match against top-ranked North Carolina with plenty of excitement.
Panova was sporting pink hair after promising her players to dye it “Maryland red” if they beat Duke on Friday. Most of her Terps followed suit and added a little coloring to their hair as well, and Van Berlo was honored during the break between doubles and singles play.
But the Tar Heels (23-2, 9-1) won every set in singles and handed the Terps a shutout to halt their momentum.
Still, the feeling from Friday’s historic victory over Duke persisted. With only the ACC tournament remaining before Van Berlo ends her collegiate tennis career, the upset gave the senior something positive to reminisce about.
“We had our ups and downs,” Van Berlo said. “But it’s what makes college tennis great too at the same time.”
sportsdbk@gmail.com
