Women’s Tennis Takes on Midwest
Men’s Team Loses Four Straight NCAC Matches
BY IAN HAYNES

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Oberlin’s women’s tennis team lost three tough matches at the Midwest Regional Tournament in Wisconsin this past weekend, dropping their overall record to 10-7 on the year.
In the first match of the tournament on Friday, the Yeowomen took on Lacrosse University. Oberlin started slowly losing all three doubles matches to fall behind three points going into singles play. 
The Yeowomen attempted to make it up by winning first and second singles. Junior Sarah Jesse won her match at first singles in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. In second singles, sophomore Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz cleaned up, winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. Those two points would be the only ones Oberlin won in the match but other individual matches were close. First-year Becca Buurma, playing fourth singles, played a close match but fell short in the end losing in the second set 7-6 (8-6). Sophomore Laura Koehn, lost a close match 7-5, 6-4.

(photo by Brad Coryell)

In the second match of the day the Yeowomen jumped out to an early 4-1 lead over the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh when first and second doubles won and senior Beth Krupski won 6-2, 6-4 in third single and Buurma won her fourth singles match 6-3, 6-3. Oberlin then lost the last four points and the match to fall 5-4 to Osh-kosh.

“We were up 4-1 with four matches to play and had every opportunity to win the match. [Koehn] gave everything she had in her match, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” Coach Don Hunsinger said. 
After losing the first set 6-2, Koehn came back to win the second set 7-5 before she lost the last set 6-4.
In the middle of the third set in Jesse’s first singles match, she pulled her hamstring, which cost her the set and the match. “[Jesse’s] game is that she is going to get to every ball, she is a tenacious competitor,” Hunsinger said.
In the last match of the weekend, Oberlin took on St. Mary’s College. With Jesse out, everyone else moved up a spot. Because only six players traveled with the team a forfeit was taken in third doubles and sixth singles. 

St. Mary’s took three points in doubles play and a 4-0 lead going into singles play because of the forfeit in sixth singles. 

Fotiu-Wojtowicz stepped up to the challenge of playing first singles and buried her opponent in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. Krupski, Buurma, Koehn and sophomore Lindsay Butler had a harder time with their matches losing all four and making the final score of the match 8-1.

“Alaina was like a pitcher this weekend. Friday night she didn’t have her stuff, but Saturday she did,” Hunsinger said, “She was inspired when she was playing Saturday. She showed how good she really can be.”
Hunsinger said that as a team they played better than they did the year before and said that they would finish in the top six next year. “It was definitely a frustrating weekend because we did a lot of good things but couldn’t get a win,” Fotiu-Wojtowicz said.

This past weekend the men traveled to Wittenberg University to take on Wittenberg and Earlham in a three-way match. The Yeomen struggled in both matches, falling to Earlham 5-2 and to Wittenberg 7-0. Oberlin also took on Wooster on Thursday, April 12 and to Ohio Wesleyan this past Tuesday. The men lost both matches 7-0, which knocks their record to 6-12 on the year.
The Yeomen went into the matches over the weekend without first-year singles player Jamie Frankel or sophomore Matt Fairbanks.

In the first match, first-year Marion Bocek and sophomore Jason Criscione won their matches playing third and fourth singles, respectively. Oberlin’s first doubles team of seniors Ben Fox and Mike Shelton also won their match, but Earlham took the next two doubles matches for the lone doubles point.

“The team is not giving tennis 100 percent when they play. They are a much better team than they are playing,” Hunsinger said.

In the second match of the day, Oberlin took on host Wittenberg. The Tigers cleaned up against the Yeomen, winning all three doubles matches and all six singles matches for the 7-0 win. Bocek again played a solid match at third singles though he lost 6-3, 7-5. Sophomore Ashvin Raj also played a decent match but came up short in the end losing 6-2, 6-3.

“[Bocek] played well over the weekend and against Ohio Wesleyan, where he played two singles. Their number two singles player was their number one player last year. He is a solid player,” Hunsinger said.

In the Ohio Wesleyan match, Oberlin was again without Frankel and this time without Fox which forced Shelton up to first singles, Bocek up to second singles, Criscione up to third singles, Raj up to fourth singles and put Fairbanks in the fifth slot and sophomore Matt Isaacs into the sixth hole. 

Ohio Wesleyan cleaned house in doubles, winning all three matches by scores of 8-1, 8-1, 8-0 and had no problem in singles, taking all six matches. 

Shelton played a tough match at first singles losing by a respectable score of 6-4, 6-4. Fairbanks playing fifth singles dropped the first set 6-4, and in the second set to it to six matchpoints before finally falling 7-6 (6).
On the April 12, the Yeomen took on the Fighting Scots of Wooster. Oberlin struggled in the match, falling 7-0, while no one managed to win more than two points in any set.
When asked about the team’s play of late, Hunsinger responded, “You don’t give a test 50 percent, you don’t give a relationship 50 percent, and you don’t give your sport 50 percent.”
The men and women took on Kenyon yesterday and will take on Allegheny this weekend.