The Oberlin College women’s tennis team enters a new season with hopes of again being recognized as one of the region’s top teams.
“We would like to be in the top four of the conference,” head coach Don Hunsinger said.
After finishing in the top four for three straight years, sending a participant to the national tournament in two of the past three seasons and competing in the prestigious Midwest Invite held in Madison, Wisc., it is easy to see why the hopes of this team are set on a national berth in early May.
The women’s tennis team chooses to play a very competitive schedule, including several nationally ranked teams and regionally ranked teams.
“We try to find the best opponents we can. Some of it is calendar driven,” Hunsinger explained.
This year’s team will be led by senior Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz who has earned all-conference honors in singles and doubles all three seasons she has competed at the collegiate level. This past fall, she continued to shine on the court not only in singles, by being ranked 13th in the region, but ranked 25th in the nation along with sophomore partner Ary Amerikaner.
Hunsinger has high hopes for his top doubles team.
“I think that they are going to do well. I think that they have a shot at qualifying for nationals,” he said.
Coming off a season record of 16-11 a year ago, the Yeowomen look to a new season to restart the dominance that was shown at times last season. Other key contributors to the team will be junior Whitney Reichheld who had a 18-5 record, sophomore Jessica Hauser who had a 21-3 record and senior Laura Koehn who was 13-11 in singles play last season.
The Yeowomen, however, had their hopes of an early season upset go by the wayside this weekend when they dropped a non-conference match at Albion College on Sunday by a score of 7-2.
In an important early-season test, the experienced and road-tested Yeowomen could not compete with a highly ranked regionally team.
Fotiu-Wojtowicz won a closely contested match at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-4 while she and her partner Amerikaner won a convincing match at No. 1 doubles by a score of 8-4. Although there were some positive aspects, the win did not materialize.
Hunsinger acknowledged the quality of the Yeowomen’s opponent.
“We knew their lineup changed. They played a very good match,” he said.