This past weekend, the men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in the XS Tennis Village at home, facing off against DePauw University and Coe College.
The women advanced their win streak to eight straight wins, winning six of nine matches against DePauw and clean-sweeping Coe College with wins in all nine matches. The men also remain undefeated after the weekend, completely sweeping the competition winning 9–0 against both DePauw University and Coe College.
The Maroons are feeling good about their performance. Both teams are on a roll, and this past weekend places the Maroons even closer to their goal of winning nationals.
Second-year Alyssa Rudin commented on her excitement about this past weekend. “The weekend was another good one for the team, which was, of course, very exciting,” she said. “We are happy we made it through top-ranked team DePauw and took care of business against Coe. Things are really starting to come together for us. The team is feeling good and we are all starting to play to our potential.”
Third-year Adrienne Travis echoed her teammate’s sentiments. “The team is super motivated to keep up the positive momentum we have been having,” she said. “We have really been tested these past two weekends with matches, but we have proved ourselves and we know our strengths as a team.”
However, even with its impressive performance and undefeated record, the squad is far from satisfied. Working with its strengths and improving its skills in all aspects is necessary as the season progresses. Consistency and focus are key as the Maroons begin to face off against higher-ranked teams.
“Obviously, being undefeated is nice, but as we head into the last stretch of the winter season our competition gets a lot tougher,” Rudin said. “We need to stay focused and get as ready as we can to play three top-15 teams.”
The Maroons are working to improve every day in practice. “We have been focusing a lot more on fitness and change of direction drills to increase our speed, as well as a lot of doubles work to try and start more matches off with a 3–0 score,” Travis said.
Additionally, bringing intensity and energy to every match is a priority.
“Going forward our goal is to keep up the positive morale and keep building our relationship as teammates,” Travis said.
“Looking ahead, I think we are really going to be focused on bringing our maximum intensity from the first moment we step onto the court because we know our opponents are going to do the same,” Rudin said. “For some of our together matches, we cannot afford to let a match or two go because we weren’t bringing the energy, so that definitely is very critical for us.”
