Women's tennis team survives Spring Break

Kenyon College serves up defeat for Oberlin

While the rest of Oberlin was on vacation, the women's tennis team was playing what may be some of their hardest games this season.

Before they went south for the week of spring break, the team shut out Ashland University at home in the Heisman Field House. The Yeowomen won all their single matches in two sets, and only one Ashland player was able to score against Oberlin at all.

"Ashland was a really good practice match," said junior Leigh Ann Totty. "We used our game to put away the opponent, and that was really important."

The team saw the other side of the fence in their next match when they played against Emory, the 1996 national champions. Emory won the match 9-0, and only Totty was able to take her game to three sets. However, Coach Don Hunsinger called the match "the best match we played all break. The scores don't indicate that, but it was our best effort the whole time."

The team lost their next match against Calvin College 6-3. Sophomore Jill Brockelman won her singles match in two sets and went on to win her doubles match with her partner first-year Beth Krupski. Junior Tara Sievers defaulted her singles match because of an injury, and Totty lost her match in three sets, although the pair went on to win their doubles match.

The next day the team lost to Principia College 3-6. "It was a very good match," said Hunsinger. "We lost all our three set matches, and they were all very close," he said, referring to the matches played by Totty (6-3, 7-5, 6-7), Brockelman (6-6, 6-3, 6-0), and Krupski (6-3, 6-3, 6-0). Sievers won her singles match, and the second and third doubles teams won also.

"The Calvin and Principia matches were just good matches," said Hunsinger. "They just played better than we did that day. Those matches are more fun than winning 9-0 when you don't have to compete."

The next day brought another tough match for Oberlin, which they lost 8-1 against Macalester College. Oberlin's only point was scored by Brockelman, who won her singles match in three sets. "Jill came back and won in her third set. In one day she made that improvement," said Hunsinger, referring to Brockelman's three set loss in the Principia match.

The team ended their break with an easy victory against New York Oneota College, shutting them out 9-0. Although the team won all their matches, Hunsinger called the victory scored by Senior Kate Petersen "just awesome. After losing a tough first set 6-7, she came back and won her next two sets 6-0, 6-2. It was terrific," he said.

"I felt everybody played really well over break," said Totty. "Playing the challenging teams only makes us want to play harder. By the time we played Oneota, everybody was really coming into their own."

On Tuesday, the team had their first conference match against Kenyon College, last year's national champions. Although Oberlin lost 8-1, doubles partners first-year Aeli Jeon and fifth-year Kathy Hertzer won their match 8-4, making that Oberlin's first win against Kenyon in three years. "Aeli played the best she's ever played for Oberlin," said Hunsinger. "Everything she was doing was just a level higher than anything she had done prior to that."

"It was a great match," Hunsinger said. "If we had played like that over break, we'd have won a few more matches."

This weekend the team goes to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to play in the Great Lakes Tournament. There they will face Kalamazoo College, Hope College and DePaw University: all nationally-ranked teams. Totty said she is looking forward to the stiff competition. "We are competitive with other schools," she said. "We've played the tough teams. I feel really intense and ready to go out and play those matches."

Double-time: The womenÕs tennis team shows their prowess in a doubles match. The Yeowomen geared up for the latter half of the season over Spring Break in Florida. (photo by Heidi Good)