The Oberlin College men’s and women’s tennis teams traveled to Kenyon College last weekend to compete in the 11th annual Great Lakes College Association Tennis Tournament. The women took home a 3-1 record, while the men finished 0-2.
Assistant coach Adam Shoemaker commented on the men’s performance, saying, “We played a tough match against Albion and lost 4-0. [We] had some guys playing pretty well. Then we had to wait until after 10 p.m. to start our second match. We played pretty well but lost 4-3 to Ohio Wesleyen. Actually we had some guys that played much better because of [starting so late]. But we played a good match. We’d beaten them 4-3 about a week ago, and they beat us 4-3 this time. There was one match that was different. It’s a good matchup and we look forward to seeing them in the conference tournament for one more chance.”
The women fared better on the weekend, of which Shoemaker said, “The women did really well at the GLCAs. They won three of their four matches [and] avenged a defeat to DePauw University earlier. So their performance there was what got them invited to the Midwest Invitational this weekend.”
The women were lad by junior co-captain Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz who won a close number one singles match by a score of 7-5, 6-3. First-year Jessica Hauser also put in quality work, defeating her number four opponent 6-0, 6-3.
On Wednesday, both teams traveled to Wooster to square off against their conference opponents. The women’s team won with a score of 7-2, while the men dropped an unfortunate 7-0 match. Shoemaker said of the day’s games, “Neither team played as well as they can. The guys lost 7-0; the women won 7-2. It was a learning experience. Good that it happened now, as we’re heading into the home stretch of the conference season, to get us ready for the rest of the season.”
First-year Mark Knee expressed optimism about the result, saying, “It was a tough match. I played well, I thought. It was a little up and down, but there were some good things and bad things about it, and we’ll come back next week.” Knee lost a close number four singles match 7-5, 6-4.
The women will travel to Madison, Wis. this weekend to compete in the Midwest Regional Tournament beginning on Friday, while the men will travel to Springfield, Ohio this Saturday to compete in a double header against Wittenberg University and Earlham.