An Important Weekend Ahead
BY MIKE MUSKA, DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

For the second consecutive year, Oberlin’s women’s tennis team has been invited to the prestigious Division III Midwest Invitational in Madison, Wis. Only the top 12 teams in the region are invited. Performances in the event will go a long way in determining the schools and individuals to be invited to the NCAA Division III Championships, to be held May 18-23 at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Oberlin will be one of only three North Coast Athletic Conference teams in the field, along with traditional NCAC powers Kenyon College and Denison University. They are also the only three Ohio schools in the field. Oberlin will open competition on Friday against the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, one of three schools from the Wisconsin public college system in the field. A win over LaCrosse will match Oberlin with Kenyon, who receive a bye in the first round.
Leading the way for Oberlin will be junior All-American Sarah Jesse. Jesse has already captured the Midwest Regional Rolex competition, is ranked second in the region and appears a lock to be invited to the NCAA Championships. But Sarah would enjoy having some company on the trip. Sophomore teammate Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz joins Jesse as the top-ranked doubles team in the NCAC and plays at number two singles. A strong performance this weekend in either doubles or singles might earn the Michigan duo of Jesse and Fotiu-Wojtowicz a trip to Texas together.
Earning a team spot in Texas will require Oberlin being recognized as one of the top seven teams in the Central United States region. This area includes more than 110 colleges in the Midwest states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and North and South Dakota. They will have their chance this weekend to make the case they belong.
The only senior on this year’s squad, Beth Krupski, plays in the number three singles spot, and combines with number four, first-year Becka Buurma in the second doubles spot. Krupski is undefeated in individual conference play this season, with her third straight win on Wednesday in the team’s 7-2 win over the College of Wooster. Keys to Oberlin’s success will also be the play of numbers five and six, sophomore Laura Koehn and junior Lindsay Butler, respectively, who also make up the third doubles team.
In many ways, this weekend is just another step in the growth of Oberlin women’s tennis. Coach Don Hunsinger took over the squad in 1989, adding these duties after many years of coaching the men. Oberlin’s invitation to last year’s Midwest Invitational was about gaining experience. This year, with only one senior on the squad, is about both this year and the future. With bright recruiting prospects on the horizon, Oberlin’s performance this weekend could influence several key recruits to head this way.

Hunsinger shared several thoughts as he reflected on entering a second decade as Oberlin’s coach. “Coaching the women has opened my eyes to different ways of getting things done. They are often more responsive to taking coaching and know how to show their emotions in a positive way, with a different outlook than the guys on winning and losing. 30 minutes after a match, you really couldn’t tell whether they had won or lost.”
He added that “People want to believe our athletes at Oberlin are different when it comes to athletics, but they are not. They have the same intentions –– they want to get better, to work with you and be a part of what you are doing with the program. Where they may be different is when you watch a senior tutor a sophomore in French on the van ride home, or how willing they are to discuss the issues of the world, call me Dad and enjoy spending time with me off the court.” 
Hunsinger stays in contact with his former athletes and the three seniors from his first team in 1989 are all returning this spring for graduation.
His goals for the season are simple. Getting Jesse and Fotiu-Wojtowicz to the Nationals would be great and adding a team would be the icing on the cake. He knows that on any given day, Oberlin has the potential to catch Kenyon or Denison, but must avoid the pitfalls of an off day where an Allegheny or Wittenberg might slip in to knock Oberlin out of the NCAC big three. In the back of his mind, he also knows that when Oberlin hosts the NCAC Championships in the spring of 2002, he may have his finest team ever and perhaps a chance to share with them one of his finest coaching moments. 
So while many of you will be figuring out what to wear to Drag Ball this Saturday, the women’s tennis team has an important weekend ahead of them. They are a fun and exciting team to watch, and have home matches remaining on April 21 against Allegheny, and a huge match April 24 against Denison, before closing the home season with Walsh on May 1. It is a team of the present and one of the future as well.