The womens tennis team is conquering the court with no love in mind. Love, of course, is set aside and left as the opponents problem, and hopefully score. With a great commencing weekend against Simmons though, their hopes may not be too farfetched. The ladies stole the tournament with a 7-2 victory against host, Simmons College.
Led by their six wins in singles play, the women managed to recover from their early two losses in the doubles matches. The day started off slow, with one win of three in the doubles. Their sole victory is credited to Jen Krueger 07 and Colleen Donnelly 08 who defeated opponents Alex Yudelevich and Veronica Dee of Simmons 8-1.
In singles, Krueger and Donnelly kept the pace with meritorious victories, Krueger managing a 6-2, 6-2 and Donnelly following it up with a 6-1, 6-1 defeat. These womens, young players, have remained consistent with such stats and, consequently, have been recognized by newly appointed head coach, Ben Lamanna. The No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, Jen Krueger and Colleen Donnelly [respectively], are my strongest players. Simply put, I believe with a hard working year, these ladies can earn a spot into the NCAAs in both singles and doubles, said Lamanna.
This weekend, however, all womens were able to shine. Third ranked Captain Shani Reich 06 lost her first set at 6-7, but won the following two with a 6-0, 6-1 addition to her title. Newbie, Gabrielle Helfgot 09 also made a successful debut with a 7-6, 6-4 victory.
With their evident talent, the expectations for the lady Judges are even higher than such results. Simmons is an up and coming program with a new head coach, but I expected the victory and I honestly thought the opportunity was there for a 9-0 win. Once we have more comfort in our doubles lineup, well be a strong team from top to bottom, said Lamanna.
The comfort is a work in progress, gradually increasing as the season goes on.
Why is improvement anticipated? Conditioning: We always have an off court workout which attempts to put us in better shape than our opponents, therefore ensuing more confidence so that we can outlast [the other team].
With the ITA Championships creeping in from September 23-25, the conditioning will be necessary for the big Ws expected during theweekend, and in fact, throughout their fall and spring season. The expectations of our season are set high, but predictions are up to you folks.
However, I believe that the schedule will get tougher and tougher as the year rolls on, with three tough dual matches (Trinity, NYU, and MIT) squeezed between individual tournaments which will represent the best players in New England, well know where we have to be before the spring season starts, said Lamanna. And with such a strong start, a racquet will be made over this years tennis ladies.
