With one of the more successful fall seasons in school history behind them, the women's tennis team has high aspirations for the coming spring season. After earning an 11th place national ranking at the end of last spring season, the squad came out in the fall and rolled to a perfect 8-0 record and a second place finish at the New England Championships. Led by senior co-captains Katie Nordstrom and Iffy Saeed, the team looks to carry the fall season's magic into 2003.
On their way to a stellar fall, the Jumbos not only won every match, but the players only lost three times in the process. Their second place finish at the New Englands was their highest since 1990. Whether they will continue such dominance is a question, considering they have their two toughest opponents, Amherst and Williams, on the schedule this spring. Amherst won New Englands with 41 points, edging out the Jumbos' 36. Two-time defending champion Williams was a close third with 32 points earned at the tournament.
"This is definitely the most important part of the season," Nordstrom said. "Amherst and Williams are the two teams in the league closest to us in talent level. We want to get past them and get to Nationals this year."
The trek to Nationals will not be led solely by the senior captains. As the number one singles player, sophomore Jen Lijb posted a 9-1 record this fall, bolstering her impressive 17-3 career record. Junior Barclay Gang won the number three singles title at the New England Championships and posted a flawless 10-0 record. In addition, freshmen Becky Bram and Lisa Miller made strong first impressions with records of 10-2 and 9-2, respectively.
But at the forefront are team leaders Saeed and Nordstrom, who combined for a glistening 23-0 mark in the fall, as well as the number four and number six singles championships. The squad's best doubles tandem is made up of Lejb and Nordstrom, who went 10-2 and are 22-3 for their careers together. Another powerful combination is made up of Gang and sophomore Neda Pisheva, who went 9-1 in the fall and are 16-4 since the beginning of last year.
"Our team is so deep," Nordstrom said. "Playing against such great players in practice every day really makes us better for the matches."
Those practices officially started on February 17th, when the team took over the Gantcher Center. But they have not been limited to that date, according to Nordstrom.
"We have been getting on courts as much as possible since the end of the fall season. We want to keep ourselves fresh so we'll be ready for when we finally get to go outside again," Nordstrom said.
While not exactly worried, the team does express concern over the gap between the two seasons, which are still considered connected.
"It's difficult having two seasons so far apart," Nordstrom said. "It's easy to peak at the end of the fall season, but to have to start the whole thing up again and be successful in the spring is a tough task. But I feel we're ready for it."
The Jumbo women will open up the new season on Saturday, Mar. 29 at home against Wesleyan. They will then travel to the Middlebury Invitational the next weekend, followed by a trip to Brandeis. As important as those matches are, they are all precursors to the home showdowns with the Lord Jeffs and the Ephs.
"We are ranked 7th in the country right now, but we can't let that get to our heads," Nordstrom said. "We just have to take it one match at a time, and get ready for Wesleyan after spring break. After that we will take it from there."
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