Tennis teams regroup after postponements

After having three matches postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions last weekend, the men's and women's tennis teams finally played in and won their first home meet of the year on Wednesday. The men's team won by a score of 6-1 and the women's team won 7-2 over Gettysburg College in the dual meet.

"I was just happy to have our first home match and good weather," said head coach Ben Baron. "We did pretty well."

The women's team improved to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play with its commanding victory Wednesday afternoon. Although the first doubles team of senior Cara Loeys and junior Michelle Liang lost to their Gettysburg counterparts, the second and third doubles teams transferred the momentum back to the Blue Jays with decisive victories.

Freshmen Becky Busch and Priya Puri were victorious in the second slot and freshman Meghan Hasenauer and sophomore Jill Seidman won at third. Liang then lost in a tiebreaker in the first singles match, but Hopkins took the next five matches en route to victory.

"It was nice to finally get some really nice weather and another win," said Loeys.

The men's team earned its first victory of the year, and now has a record of 1-5 overall (1-3 in the Centennial Conference). Although they were not at full strength, they had most of their regulars in the line-up. The meet did not start out on a good note for the Blue Jays, as they lost the first doubles point. However, the second and third doubles teams of senior captain Grant Roch and sophomore Michael Kelly-Sell and senior Aaron Ong and sophomore Andrew Chang won their respective contests, giving Hopkins the doubles point. In the first singles, Justin Chan struggled in his return from an injury. He cramped up during the match and was forced to forfeit.

However, Hopkins would not relinquish a match after that, winning the next six consecutive matches.

"I think we're on our way to more wins now," said Roch.

The matches scheduled for last Saturday and Sunday were postponed. All three of these matches have been rescheduled for two weeks from now. Since the conference tournament begins on Friday, April 23, this timing makes the most sense.

"We haven't played in a match in over a week and we missed a couple of practices because of the rain," said Loeys. "We suddenly went from playing together constantly to not seeing each other at all."

Still, Seidman sees an upside to the delays. "Swarthmore and Muhlenberg are two of the best teams in our conference. I am not happy that the matches were postponed, but it will be nice to have more time to practice before facing these teams."

Loeys also hopes the team will be refreshed and well rested as it prepares to play four matches in five days next week. The women's team will spend the majority of the week on the road, traveling to Ursinus College on Monday, McDaniel on Tuesday and Dickinson on Thursday. On Friday, the Blue Jays will wrap up a grueling week with another trip to Pennsylvania to battle Bryn Mawr College.

"It's going to be a hard week, but hopefully we can learn from each match in order to get better for the next one," said Seidman.

The men's tennis team only lost one match due to the inclement weather, so their schedule in the coming weeks will not be quite as rough. But things will still get a little hectic.

However, Kelly-Sell trusts that everyone on the team will manage. "Everyone on the team has done it before, so I'm sure my teammates will take care of their business and come out here ready to play tennis," he said.

Roch agrees that the team will handle the intensity well, and feels that the rain-out could not have come at a better time since the team has been struggling early in the season and needed the extra practice.

"Some of our players were hurt before, but everyone is healthy now. Also, we are working extra hard because we are motivated to get that first win," said Roch.

The Blue Jays have been plagued by injuries and came into their first few matches cold, facing teams that already had several matches under their belts.

"We played three really good teams right off the bat," said Kelly-Sell. "They had played five or six teams before us, so they were match-ready."

Despite its early struggles, the team believes that it can turn things around from here. Roch believes the team has been improving at every match and was encouraged by the performance against Goucher -- a traditionally strong foe.

Also, the back half of the team has fared well thus far this season. Freshmen Nick Kennedy and Andrew Chang have picked up several wins in the fifth and sixth singles slots.

Next Monday, the men's team will face Ursinus in Collegeville, Penn. in a dual meet with the women's team. On Tuesday, they will participate in another dual meet at McDaniel.

"We are confident that we can win these matches, but we are definitely not overlooking them," said Kelly-Sell of the upcoming matches.

"They are teams we can beat," added Roch. "But we have to play our best. Once we start winning and get some confidence, though, things will turn around completely."