Author: Rebecca Rodriguez
As Oxy’s women’s tennis approaches the end of its regular season, the players are working hard to make it into post-season play.
Despite its dual loss against Willamette University and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday, March 27, the team quickly rebounded and won its match against the University of La Verne on Friday, April 2.
Prior to the team’s match against CMS, the women suffered a loss to UC Santa Cruz. From then on, the players have been consistently striving toward improvement. This was evident through individual performances during the team’s CMS match.
“Jessica Go [junior] and Katrina Gould [sophomore], at number two doubles, played a solid match against their opponents. They out -steadied [the competition] and played smart,” Coach Linda Park said. “Katrina Gould, at number three singles, defeated an all-court player.”
Coach Park also noted that Gould was “very steady and tenacious on the court” and outplayed her opponents “by hitting the ball deep and consistently.”
Individual improvements such as these will enable the women’s tennis team to play better collectively.
In addition to the progress of individual members, the overall quality of the team is improving, according to their coach. Aside from working on their mental preparation, the players are focusing on their physical conditioning, specifically their serves.
“We want our serves to be weapons, as opposed to just starting the point,” Coach Park said. In order to produce stronger and more consistent matches for the rest of the season, the women’s tennis team will have to continue working on improving their physical and mental endurance.
With only two regular season matches left before the SCIAC championships in mid-April, the women’s tennis team must now work on improving its overall season record. The team’s staggering win over the University of La Verne was the first step toward this goal.”We are playing better tennis . . . seeing more consistency, and stronger mental games,” Park said.
Doubles teams players have also been working on improving their net game. It is imperative that the doubles teams work on having a strong return at the net.
Krishnaveni Subbiah [sophomore] “has improved immensely, along with her partner Marissa Cassman [senior],” Park said.
With stalwart conference competition within sight, the collective effort of the team members to improve their skills is essential. “Cal Lutheran and CMS are the closest in ranking to us. We will have close matches with them in the Conference tournament,” Park said.
SCIAC championship games begin Friday, April 16 and will be held at Whittier College. Tentative post-season play at the Ojai Tournament begins Thursday, April 22.
The women’s next match is against La Sierra University on Thursday, April 8.
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