Women's tennis 2-0, beats John Carroll

The women's tennis team beat John Carroll University 6-3 at home on Saturday to bring their record to 2-0.

"The match went well because we won," Coach Don Hunsinger said. "I don't think we played as well as we did against Malone [last week] but that can be attributed to all the sickness going around. There was also a lot of nervousness because it was our first match at home."

First-year Kelly Dobos supported this theory, saying, "I was nervous a little because it was my first actual game."

This inexperienced nervousness was certainly apparent in the play of two of the three first-years as they had the only three-set matches. First-year Anne Greenburg won hers, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 and Jill Brockelman lost hers 2-6, 6-3, 6-7.

The other two points given up to John Carroll were lost by junior Kate Petersen in her singles game, 4-6, 3-6, and by senior co-captain Erika Bradford and Brockelman in their doubles game, 8-6.

"We need to improve our performance in doubles," Hunsinger said. "A lot of this stems from the fact, especially for new players, that in high school they play either doubles or singles, not both. Doubles are new territory. It's a new language completely different from singles. There are not neccessarily any strategies or techniques to learn, it just takes time on the part of the coach to figure these things out."

Hunsinger expects to win his next match against Carnegie Mellon University on Saurday, though it "depends on how healthy people are," he said. "We had three sick last week and Bradford won't be here this weekend." Carnegie has two exceptionally good players, one of them nationally ranked. "[Senior co-captain] Bethany [Pribila] had a good game against her last year," Hunsinger said.

The coach is very pleased with his team thus far. "The amount of work all the women have done is exceptional," he said. "Erika and Bethany have provided sensational leadership."

All of this should add up to a win against Carnegie. "We're pretty supportive of each other as a team," Dobos said. "We're ready for it and working hard."