This past weekend, the men’s and women’s tennis teams traveled to Ohio to compete against Denison University on Friday and Case Western Reserve University on Saturday. On Sunday, the men took on Oberlin College and the women took on Trinity University in Texas. It was a great weekend for the Maroons, as the women won all nine matches against Denison, six of their nine matches against Case Western, and seven of their nine matches against Trinity. The men had an outstanding performance as well, winning eight of their nine matches against both Denison and Case Western and winning all nine of their matches against Oberlin College.
Second-years Alyssa Rudin and Estefi Navarro commented on the Maroon’s successful weekend. “I’d definitely say the most exciting moment this past weekend was our win against Case Western, as they are a very good team in our conference and bring maximum intensity on every court against us. It was super fun to close it out against them,” Rudin said.
Echoing her teammate’s sentiments, Navarro said, “The most exciting part of this weekend was that our team really brought energy to the courts. We never lost focus…[we] supported one another while remaining positive towards our own games. The teams we played this weekend were really intense and could have easily overpowered us, but we took initiative and ended up coming up on top.”
Competing three days in a row is not easy, but the Maroons were able to not only survive the weekend but thrive against highly ranked opponents.
“The three wins this weekend were so important for the team because we were able to see how much potential we have and how much damage we can do if we all set our minds to it,” Navarro added. “We are so excited to keep competing and challenge ourselves. Moving forward, I believe we are finally beginning to gain the confidence we should have.”
Despite three strong victories, the Maroons are still looking to improve. “We are always looking for new ways to improve and I think that we all have so much potential to keep getting better in both singles and doubles,” Navarro continued. “We will definitely keep working on our doubles play, because having an advantage there is a great way to take pressure off of singles.”
The victories from this past weekend continue both the men’s and women’s undefeated records. The teams hope to continue performing well at the soon-approaching nationals.
“These wins are super important to us as we look forward to the national indoors, which is a similar format of three really good teams in three days,” Rudin said. “The fact that our mental and physical fitness and toughness [were] up to par already this past weekend is super exciting.”
The season continues as both the men’s and women’s teams will take on DePauw University on Friday, February 16, at home.
