Yeowomen Set for NCAC, Yeomen Suffer Injuries
BY IAN HAYNES

In tennis it doesn’t take much to turn a solid season into an awful one. 
Oberlin’s men’s tennis team found this out when first-year number one singles player Jamie Frankel went down with an injury, keeping him out of play until the conference tournament next week.
“When you take your number one out of the lineup, it’s tough,” Coach Don Hunsinger said.


(photo by Brad Coryell)

With everyone bumped up a slot in the lineup for the last few weeks the Yeomen have struggled through their matches and nothing changed this past week as they lost to North Coast Athletic Conference opponents Kenyon College 7-0 on Thursday April 19 and Allegheny College on Saturday, April 21. The losses dropped Oberlin’s record to 6-13 on the year.
On April 19, the Yeomen took on visiting Kenyon College. Kenyon swept Oberlin in doubles, taking all three matches for the lone doubles point. In first doubles, seniors Ben Fox and Mike Shelton fell 8-4, while in second doubles, first-year Marion Bocek and sophomore Ashvin Raj fell 8-5 and sophomores Matt Fairbanks and Matt Isaacs fell in third doubles 8-0. Sophomore Jay Criscione replaced Isaacs in singles play, but fell in four singles 6-0, 6-2.
This past Saturday the men hosted visiting Allegheny in an NCAC matchup. Again, everyone played up in the rotation, but they battled, keeping many of the singles matches close. In the end, though, the Yeomen fell 7-0.
In first singles play, Fox lost 6-4, 6-1 and in second singles Shelton fell 6-3, 6-3. Raj, playing fifth singles, just missed taking the first set, losing 7-5 and fell in the second set 6-2.
“I think that this team sometimes forgets that before you can win you have to work hard enough to win. You don’t just walk on the court and win. People don’t just walk into the classroom and get an A, it has to be something that is part of your personality, part of your lifestyle. The men’s team is working towards that and is continuing to improve,” Hunsinger said. 
The men will take on Walsh University next Tuesday, before hosting the NCAC Conference Tournament next weekend.
Oberlin’s women’s tennis team has had a rough go at it lately. On Thursday, April 19 the Yeowomen took on NCAC opponent Kenyon College, losing 8-1. Over the weekend they took on NCAC opponent Allegheny and won 6-3, but on Tuesday they lost to NCAC opponent Denison 8-1.
“Denison and Kenyon consistently have strong programs,” Hunsinger said, “I think that some of our team does not have trust in themselves when we play these teams.”
Kenyon opened the match by taking all three doubles points. The first doubles team of junior Sarah Jesse and sophomore Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz fell 8-5, while second doubles, made up of senior Beth Krupski and first-year Becca Buurma, were swept 8-0. The third doubles team made up of sophomores Laura Koehn and Lindsay Butler, played a decent match, but in the end fell 8-4.
Oberlin’s only point of the match came when Jesse, playing first singles, won in three sets, 6-0, 4-6, 7-5.
In the weekend match, Oberlin traveled to Pennsylvania to take on 19-2 Allegheny College. The Yeowomen breezed through the match, winning 6-3. First and second doubles won 8-1, 8-4 respectively, and first through fourth singles won in straight sets. In fifth singles, Koehn battled, but fell 6-4, 6-2 and in sixth singles Butler took the first set 6-3 but lost the next two 3-6, 2-6.
“When you have your opponent down, you put your foot to their throat and push until their trachea is flat, because every opponent deserves your best effort,” Hunsinger said.
In their final NCAC match before the conference tournament this weekend, Oberlin took on Denison at home this past Tuesday.
The lone point of the match for the Yeowomen came from third singles when Krupski won in three sets. After losing the first set 2-6, Krupski came back strong in the next two sets taking both of them with scores of 6-4, 7-5 for the win.
“The girl [Krupski] played was the first singles player for Denison last year. The win was a good one for her,” Fotiu-Wojtowicz said.
In third doubles, first-year Nabilah Talib made her second start of the year, her first in doubles. She paired up with Koehn, but they fell 8-2.
The women will travel to Denison this weekend for the NCAC Conference Tournament.

 

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