Women’s Tennis Takes on Malone
by Ian Haynes

The Oberlin College women’s tennis team dominated last Saturday at home against Malone.
The Yeowomen swept Malone 9-0 in a non-conference match, improving to 2-0 on the season. The men’s tennis team suffered their first loss of the season against the Pioneers, losing 5-2.
The doubles team of junior Sarah Jesse and sophomore Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz started the match off on the right foot for Oberlin, winning 8-1. 
“This is the best first doubles, team we have had in a long time and I only see them getting better,” Head Coach Don Hunsinger said.
Second and third doubles made up of senior Beth Krupski and first-year Becky Burma, and sophomores Laura Koehn and Leah Corn, followed the lead of the first doubles team, taking their matches 8-3 and 8-1, respectively.

The Yeowomen, taking a 3-0 lead into singles play, quickly wrapped up the match when Jesse shut out her opponent in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 and Fotiu-Wojtowicz waltzed through her match, 6-1, 6-1.

With the match already won, the pressure was off the Yeowomen in the last four singles matches. 
Krupski, playing number three singles and Burma playing number four singles, both annihilated their opponents in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.

“[Burma] was nervous going into her match. Her practice time was cut the week before because of an illness but she came out and played extremely well,” Hunsinger said.

Koehn and Corn rounded out singles competition for the Yeowomen with wins in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-1, respectively.
“The people we have are solid players,” Fotiu-Wojtowicz said. Hunsinger added, “We are relentless at every position and constantly improving.”

For the men the match was best described as “an off day”.
First-year Jamie Frankel and senior Ben Fox teamed up for the Yeomen to play first doubles and took the match 8-3. 
Needing to win only one of the next two doubles matches to secure a point, Oberlin couldn’t convert the odds, losing the next two 8-4 and 8-3 along with the crucial point.
Frankel, playing first singles, easily took his match, winning in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4.
“[Frankel] has a tendency to come out strong then toy with his opponents,” Hunsinger said.
The only other singles player to win was senior Mike Shelton, playing third singles.

“We are better than how we played against Malone,” Hunsinger said, “We didn’t have the same intensity as we did the week before and it showed on the courts.”

Oberlin’s men’s and women’s tennis team will take on Otterbein tomorrow at home. The men begin at 10 a.m. followed by the women at 1 p.m.