With hours and hours of practice and victories in all four dual meets and ITA Regionals under its belt, the women's tennis team turns its attention to the New England Championships (NEWITTS) this weekend.
With an array of changes made to this year's format, the team is excited to take on some of the best tennis programs in Div. III.
The New England Regional, held this year at Amherst, Mt. Holyoke and Smith Colleges, is the largest in the country and plays host to some of strongest teams in the nation. In past years the Regional was played as a team event as well as an individual event.
Points were acquired for each win, and both individual and team standings were tracked. This year, however, NEWITTS are strictly an individual affair.
There are six flights for singles and three for doubles, and individual tournaments are held for each respective flight. Players from different schools who competed at a certain slot throughout the fall season will take each other on in a tournament format.
The formatting changes got mixed reviews from coach Kate Bayard, who is nonetheless excited for the season-ending event.
"It is too bad there is no more team scoring," Bayard said. "It was an exciting way to wrap up our season. Regardless of the change, I want the team to have the same mentality and the same support for each other."
The team will be split up among the three venues depending on what flight they are playing in. In doubles play, senior tri-captains Jen Luten and Kylyn Deary will continue to play in the No. 1 spot.
Sophomore Mari Homma and freshman Meghan McCooey will compete from the No. 2 flight while the pair of junior Megan Gentzler and freshman Erica Miller will represent the Jumbos in the No. 3 flight.
The Jumbos have worked this season to put together solid doubles play in order to compliment the already dominating singles play and hope to translate the skills they have focused on in practice this fall to the court this weekend.
"We need to play high-percentage doubles this weekend," Bayard said. "We need to take chances and play aggressive, but also know when to play it safe."
Bayard has juggled the teams playing at No. 3 doubles this season, and she settled on the duo of Gentzler and Miller to play at NEWITTS.
"Megan and Erica do not have much experience together," Bayard said. "But if they communicate well together, they can do extremely well."
The pairing of McCooey and Homma is also new this fall season, but it has proven effective so far.
The duo has performed well together in the No. 2 spot, most recently defeating juniors Holly Smith and Hayley McLaughlin of NYU, 8-6, on Oct. 7.
"Meghan and Mari need to gain control of every point," Bayard said. "Their focus will be closing in on net each point."
Luten and Deary will be the leaders for these two young doubles pairs and look forward to continued success in doubles play. The duo has been working all fall on keen doubles strategy, and has been rewarded with a 7-2 record when taking the court together.
"Jen and Kylyn have been working on figuring out when to go up to the net and when to play it safe," Bayard said. "They also need to keep the ball super-low because they will not be able to get away with giving the other team any balls knee level or above."
Luten and Deary missed the NEWITT tournament last fall because both were studying abroad, but they plan to finish their last NEWITT at the top of their game.
"Kylyn and I have been working on our placement of volleys and finishing points at net for doubles," Luten said. "This is a big tournament for Kylyn and me, [and we want] to play the kind of doubles that I know we are capable of and show everyone that we are back."
The Jumbos will look to continue to control singles play as they have all season.
Luten, McCooey, Deary, senior Silvia Schmidt, Homma, and Miller will represent the Jumbos in singles competition at the one through six flights, respectively.
Singles this fall have remained consistently excellent, as the Jumbos have won every singles match in all of their dual meets.
"I am extremely pleased with singles this fall," Bayard said. "I am going to continue to instill confidence in the girls and focus mainly on what needs to be done on each individual point."
