Despite the challenges of playing inside due to rain and losing senior co-captain Lisa Miller to injury, the women's tennis team triumphed in a doubleheader against Trinity and NYU this past Saturday, beating the Bantams and the Bobcats, 6-2 and 6-3, respectively.
Leading the way for the Jumbos in the Trinity match was senior co-captain Becky Bram. Bram won her singles match against Trinity sophomore Brenna Driscoll (6-4, 7-5) and her doubles match with freshman Jessica Knez, (8-4) over Driscoll and senior Melissa White. Also winning for the Jumbos were sophomores Megan Gentzler (7-6 (6), 7-6 (6) and Andrea Cenko (7-5, 6-2), junior Silvia Schmid (6-4, 6-2) and the doubles team of freshman Mari Homma and sophomore Alana Ackerman (8-4).
The injury to Miller forced the rest of the team to step up, especially Knez. Only in her first year, Knez, has played a big role for the Jumbos, and due to the Miller's injury, has moved into second singles and first doubles.
"We did incredibly well [even without Lisa,]" Knez said. "Everyone in the lineup had to move up a spot."
The team had prepared for the forecast of rain and had practiced inside earlier in the week. There is a significant difference between the feel of indoor and outdoor courts and the preparation paid off.
"[The rain] didn't really affect us that much," Bram said. "We knew there was a possibility of rain so we had prepared and played inside."
After beating Trinity, the Jumbos forged on to play the NYU Bobcats. The match continued the team's hectic schedule over the past two weekends, with the team playing three matches in four days starting in late September, and then the doubleheader this weekend.
Yet the Jumbos stayed strong, beating NYU 6-3.
"It was tough for the girls to play a doubleheader especially because we had some court problems, basically forcing us to play both matches on just two courts," Miller said. "But it was a good test of our mental strength. We also had never played NYU before so we had no idea what to expect, and defeating them showed we could play against anybody thrown at us."
Once again the play of Bram and Knez paced the team. Bram and Knez both won their singles matches (6-1, 6-2) (6-2, 6-2) respectively, as well as their doubles match (8-5). Cenko, Schmid and Homma also won their singles matches.
"I thought the team did great," Bram said. "Everyone was able to pull out their matches and really come through for the win."
The two wins mean the team will close out its fall match-play season with a 5-2 record.
Next up for the Jumbos will be the New England Championships hosted by Amherst College. The championships will be the last competition in the team's fall season. The tournament is divided into six singles flights and three doubles flights. Each player plays in her corresponding flight, and only plays opponents from within that flight. Points are awarded corresponding to each player's advancement within the tournament. The team to compile the most points comes away with the tournament championship. The Jumbos hope to come away with that title this year.
"The two wins today were big to get the team confidence up for New England's," Miller said. "Nobody was down after our previous losses because we know we played well and both matches could have gone either way, but it was definitely good for our confidence as a team to win the two straight on Saturday."
"I think everyone could do really well," Bram added. "We want to end the season on a positive note."
