Spider Sports Recap | Week of April 4

Baseball

April 5: Win 9-2 against Longwood

The Spider’s baseball team ended its eight-game losing streak after taking Longwood University down in a 9-2 victory and moving up to a 13-12 record. The Lancers were first to make it across home plate, but their luck ended there. UR was able to load the bases and a walk by first-year Johnny Hipsman took graduate student Christian Beal home for the Spiders’ first run. Junior Will Gersky nailed a grand slam to secure a 5-1 lead. After two more runs, the Spiders held a 7-1 lead and would tally two more to secure a 9-1 lead in the first inning. Sophomore Vincent Corso tossed a career-high four innings with no runs being scored and also collected a career-high four strikeouts. 

April 9: 1-and-1 Doubleheader against Saint Louis

The Spiders went 1-for-1 in their doubleheader against Saint Louis University at the Billikens’ home field. In the first game the Spiders were defeated 3-16 when St. Louis racked up 14 unanswered runs in six innings. In the seventh, the Spiders scored their only 3 runs. The Spiders had a combined 37 at-bats with 11 hits, the Billlikens sat at a high 51 at-bats with 25 hits. 

In the second game, UR bounced back and won 8-5. By the fourth inning it was a 1-2 game with the Spiders down. In the fifth and ninth inning, the bats came alive for UR when it scored 3 runs in each inning and secured the win. The Spiders improved from the previous game with 44 at bats with 17 hits. St. Louis fell behind with 34 at bats and only 6 hits. 

April 10: 4-12 loss against Saint Louis

The Spiders ended their three-game matchup against the Billikens with a second loss and brought their record to an even 14-14. UR was first to score with a single run in the second inning but bats fell silent until the seventh inning where UR scored its second run, but St. Louis responded loudly with 6 runs. UR would rack up its final two runs in the ninth inning. UR’s statistics sat at 35 at bats, the lowest of the three games. Of the 35 ABs, UR had nine hits with two being home runs. St. Louis sat a little higher with 38 ABs, 13 hits and one homerun. 

Men’s lacrosse

April 9: Loss 11-13 to Jacksonville

Men’s lacrosse lost its first Southern Conference game of the season and its seventh regular season loss in the SoCon program history to Jacksonville University. The loss marks the end of the Spider’s eight-game win streak. Graduate student Ryan Lanchbury led the Spiders with four goals and two assists. Graduate student Luke Frankeny was close behind with three goals, while sophomores Lance Madonna and Jeff Nugent scored a respective two and one goals. First-year Jared Chenoy won 17 of the 26 faceoffs during the match and sophomore Zach Vigue collected 14 saves. 

Women’s Lacrosse

April 8: Win 19-5 against VCU

The women’s lacrosse team added its six straight win, marking their fifth straight Atlantic 10 Conference record after defeating the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams on their home turf. First-year Grace Muldoon led UR with four goals and was one of 11 Spiders who scored during the Spiders-Ram matchup. First-year Colleen Quinn and junior Lindsey Frank scored three goals each. VCU’s offense was put to the test by UR’s defense as VCU turnovered the ball 20 times and was limited to 15 shots. In comparison, the Spiders had 11 turnovers and took 44 shots.

April 10: Loss 9-5 against UMass

The Spiders sixth game win streak came to an end against #17 University of Massachusetts. The game was back-and-forth until the second quarter, where UMass tallied three goals and would do so again in the fourth quarter. The Spiders had a total of 27 shots and 20 shots on goal. UR did lead with 15 turnovers compared to UMass’ 12. Quinn and Frank led the Spiders with two goals each. Senior Marina Miller, first-year Grace Muldoon and juniors Arden Tierney, Sophia DiCenso and Kendall Duffy each scored one goal.

Women’s golf

April 4-5: Ironwood Invitational

The University of Richmond women’s golf team placed 12th out of 13 in the Ironwood Invitational event in Greenville, South Carolina. The Spiders shot a combined total score of 918 over a course of three rounds, shooting 54 over par. Senior Emily Ward shot one over 73 in the last round and finished the event tied for 36th. Sophomore Rory Weinfurther tied for 18th and secured her seventh top-20 finish over the course of the season. Junior Vicky Zhu tied for 71st, first-year Christine Mandile placed 73rd and junior Kendall Miller finished 77th. 

Men’s tennis

April 6: Win 5-2 against Longwood

Men’s tennis grabbed its second straight win with a 5-2 victory against Longwood, where first-year Eli Gordon made his Spider debut. Gordon, along with senior John Walsh and sophomores Daniel Kliebhan and Alaister Burke, won their singles matches with scores ranging from a perfect 6-0 to a nail-biting 7-6 win. All Spiders won their doubles for a swift 3-0 wipe of the courts. 

April 9: Loss 0-4 against Dayton

April 10: Loss 1-4 against Davidson

The Spiders lost their second straight game and brought their season record to 10-9. In the singles matches, Kliebhan was the sole Spider to win his match where he won 6-1 and 6-4. The Spiders saw no luck in the doubles competition with two losses and an unfinished match. 

Women’s tennis

April 6: Win 6-1 against Longwood

Women’s tennis also reigned victorious over Longwood with a near-perfect 6-1 win against the Lancers. In the singles matches, UR went 5-1 with Spiders fifth-year Emily Dunbar, senior Helene Heiberg, junior Marta Buendia and sophomores Carly Cohen and Sara Salemyr winning their matches. Junior Emily Garvin and Heiberg both played tie-breaking matches with Heiberg winning 10-5 and Garvin falling to a close 9-11. UR went 2-1 in doubles.