Matt Olszewski
Senior Sports Writer
The College of Wooster women’s tennis team played against Baldwin Wallace University (1-6) in Medina, Oh. on Sunday, Feb. 9 and emerged victorious 9-0 in their first match of the 2020 season. The Scots gained four new first- year recruits this season, as well as more depth.
Shannon Sertz ’20 was asked what it is like to have several first-years on the team this season. “It’s always nice to have fresh faces on the team, and having such a large first- year class allows for a greater hitting variety in practice, and a lot of lineup possibilities,” she said.
When asked the same question, Joy Li ’20 echoed this sentiment. “I believe we will be able to produce more unique and powerful chemistry among us in future matches,” Li re- marked.
Sertz and Li will graduate this spring, and the new additions of several recruits has been very important.
Laura Haley ’21 said, “It’s nice knowing that once the team loses seniors, that we have people that can fill their shoes. I feel good knowing that next year after I leave the team, there will be a good foundation for the future.”
As for doubles, the Scots only lost four games in total. Ishika Gupta ’23 and Li picked up a strong 8-2 win in the first slot, and same with Sertz and Sarah Duran ’21 in the number two slot. Finally, the number three team of Amber Dinchman ’23 and Abby Kushner Benson ’23 shut out their opponent 8-0. Wooster headed into their singles matches up 3-0.
Both Gupta and Li had a little bit of difficulty in the first set of their matches, as they lost 3-6. Gupta proceeded to take the second set 7-6 af- ter winning the tiebreaker 8-6. Then, in the shortened third set played to 10 points, she won 10-5. In Li’s match, she won the second set 7-5 and then closed out the match with a 10-6 win in the third set.
“Our matches at first and second singles were especially great, as both Joy and Ishika came back from being down a set,” said Dinchman. She added, “BW definitely contended with us more in singles than in doubles. Their top players seemed to be really strong.”
The other singles matches were all won in two sets. Duran won her match 6-0, 6-2 in the number three flight. The number four, five and six matches were all won by a score of 6-0. Sertz played in the four slot, Kathryn Mater- ick ’23 at five, and Haley at six. Sertz gave her thoughts on her team’s performance in their first match of 2020.
“I think we came out with high energy and determination to get the job done. The first match of the season is always exciting and there were some inspiring comebacks and clean wins,” she said. Haley added on to what Sertz said. “I’m proud of everyone, everyone did an awesome job. It makes me happy to see everyone play so well,” she said.
She was then asked about what the team has been focus- ing on in order to improve. “In practice we have been trying to play a lot of points, which has helped us get ready for matches, as well as constructing points which is something that is always useful. It mimics a real game-like situation,” Haley said. She then described her favorite thing about the team. “It’s so nice to have a bunch of people to rely on, they never let me down.”
Sertz then ended by saying, “while we work hard, we laugh harder.” Moving forward, Sertz said it’s imperative that the team maintains determination and focus, as the competition will get tougher and tougher throughout the season.