While the Siena Women's Tennis team was shorthanded on Sunday, it created an opportunity for other players such as Manuela Gomez to step up.
 
The freshman from Bogota, Colombia did just that by staying aggressive on the baseline and took time away from her opponent in winning a straight sets victory 7-5, 6-2 against senior Isabel Cabrerizo at the singles No. 3 position at the Vidas Courts in Philadelphia.
 
Cabrerizo was a 17-game winner a year ago and dropped to 6-8 this season. 
 
For Gomez, it marked her fifth singles win of the season and it put Siena on the board, who was missing usual starters Alexa Wilson and Emma Boggiali from the lineup.
 
"There was big improvement in singles this weekend," said Siena women's tennis head coach John Chiaramonte.

"It's always hard to play without a few starters, but our players rose to the occasion and competed well on each court." 
 
Sophomore Madeline De Faber-Schumacher lost a close match, but played to a three-set tie-breaker after showing resilience in winning the middle set.
 
Laia Giralt, Zaara Omar, Reegan Mullaney and Shelby Madeiros all lost their singles matches in straight sets. 
 
Next up, the Saints (0-4) will host Bryant (1-3) on Saturday at 1:45 p.m. from Tri-City Fitness in Latham. 

The Bulldogs have dropped three straight matches, losing their last match at NJIT 6-1 this past Saturday.   
 
DOUBLES
#1 Lemongo/Lombera (D) def. Laia Giralt/Manuela Gomez (SC) 6-2
#2 Rignzio/Ricardo (D) def. Reegan Mullaney/Madeline De Faber-Schumacher (SC) 6-1
#3 Cabrerizo/Dabah (D) def. Shelby Madeiros/Zaara Omar (SC) 6-3
 
SINGLES
#1 Lemongo (D) def. Giralt (SC) 6-0, 6-2
#2 Renata/Lombera (D) def. Omar (SC) 6-0, 6-3
#3 Gomez (SC) def. Cabrerizo (D) 7-5, 6-2
#4 Ricardo (D) def. De Faber-Schumacher (SC) 6-2, 7-6 (7), 10-7
#5 Dabah (D) def. Mullaney (SC) 6-4, 6-3
#6 Fiedler (D) def. Madeiros (SC) 6-2, 6-3