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Tennis drops two more matches
By Stephanie Riebe
Collegian Reporter
A chain of bad
luck has contributed to the tennis team’s continuing slow
start. The past week was marked with defeat, as well as injuries,
and two car accidents.
Through it all, the team said
they remain optimistic for the remainder of the season.
Last Wednesday the Chargers hosted
Bethel College at their first home match, which they lost, 2-7.
“The girls started slow in
doubles,” coach Sue Abel said. “They pulled together
and all improved in their singles matches. Improvement was what
we are aiming for in each match.”
A change in the team’s lineup
was a factor in the lack of wins in doubles play. After suffering
a minor arm injury the week before, junior Vessela Todorova
moved down from the No. 1 to the No. 2 doubles team.
Todorova’s injury bumped
junior Lisa Adams up to No. 1 doubles with junior Jessie Miller.
The only match wins for the Chargers
that day came from Miller, who won her No. 1 singles match,
6-4, 7-5, and Adams, who was victorious in her No. 2 singles
match, 6-3, 6-0.
The Chargers said they were motivated
to have a better day of play in their match at Grand Valley
State. But their motivation was put on hold when last Thursday,
while the team was driving to their match, a deer jumped out
in front of the team van and was hit and killed.
All the players were fine, and
the van sustained minimal damage, but the accident caused the
team to arrive late to Grand Valley State, forcing them to play
their matches without warming up. They lost, 0-9.
“We were late to the match
but there wasn’t really anything we could do about it,”
Todorova said. “We went out and gave it our best.”
On Sept. 14 the team had a match
at Ferris State University. The FSU team, GLIAC co-champion
in 2002, features an internationally ranked No. 1 singles player.
Again the Chargers lost, 0-9,
but said they were happy with the match play.
“We played really well overall,”
Adams said. “Ferris’ program is just at a higher level
than we are.”
Perhaps the team thought the worst
was behind them after the loss to Ferris State, but on the way
home from the match they were struck by yet another instance
of bad luck.
Within 10 miles of Coldwater on
I-69, the van Abel was driving began to swerve, and the team
soon realized there was a problem with one of the back tires.
After several minutes of swerving, Abel managed to stop the
van on the side of highway.
When the team got out and surveyed
the van they saw that the back left tire had blown out and was
shredded. Eventually they also noticed that gas was leaking
from the van’s tank.
The team called a tow truck and
had another school van come pick them up, but not before they
had waited on the side of the road for half an hour.
“We all just stood there
laughing because things like this keep happening to us,”
Adams said. “Nobody panicked…we
are getting used to disasters following us on our away trips.”
The team will travel to Indianapolis,
Ind., this weekend to compete in the ITA Mid-American Collegiate
Women's Tennis Regional on Friday and Saturday.
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Emma
Tocci/Collegian
Junior Jessie
Miller, the No. 1 singles player and team captain, has gone
2-5 this season, including a loss to an internationally ranked
player.
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