Recent developments have been both encouraging and disappointing on the tennis front.
As for the more encouraging note, the women’s team, which ended up in fourth place at the recent Oberlin-hosted North Coast Atlantic Conference women’s tournament, finished off their last home game against Walsh University on April 30, with a winning score of 9-0. The win puts them at second place in the NCAC and gives them an overall score of 16-11 for this season.
After the Yeowomen won their first match against Ohio Wesleyan, it seemed hopeful that they might have a chance to place highly in the tournament rankings, but two subsequent losses against Kenyon College and Wittenberg University reduced them to a fourth place finish. The Yeowomen’s showings in their next match against Walsh may have proved to be the friendly chord on which some team members appeared to have wanted to end the season.
Seeming pleased with the final results, sophomore Whitney Reichheld said, “I thought that we played very nice girls. And it was a nice win to end the season because it was 9-0, which is something hard to do. And plus we won all three doubles, which is a great accomplishment. Go, [junior] Alaina [Fotiu-Wojtowicz], because she pulled the match out, and congratulations to the team. It was a great season, and next year we’ll be even stronger because no one’s graduating.”
On the more sour note, however, the men’s team has not yet been able to turn their losses into victories and consequently come away from their match against Walsh with a 6-1 loss, only slightly tempered by sophomore Jamie Frankel’s win in the singles, 6-2, 7-6.
The men’s team next looks to take their turn in the NCAC Championships this Friday, May 3, at Ohio Wesleyan University.