Women's Tennis Takes the Spring Out of Skidmore

Author: Heather Wright

The Middlebury College women's tennis team has started out the 2003 fall season undefeated, with a win against Skidmore on Sept. 17 and most recently against Union last weekend. The Panthers traveled to Schenectady, N.Y., on Sept. 20 and convincingly defeated Union by a score of eight games to one.

The team has an unusually large number of first-year players this season, with four of them central to the team effort. One of the four, Jackie Ross '07, beat the top seeded Union player 7-5, 7-5, while fellow first-years Amy Roche, Claire Smyser and Emily Holick won their matches 6-1, 6-0; 6-2, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1, respectively. All four first-year players rolling to victory meant that the veterans could complete a sweep in the singles with victories for Sandy Spring '05 and Lauren Ready '05 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles, Middlebury went 2-1 with an especially pleasing victory for Maren Messing '06 and Rebeccah Duvoisin '06 who were able to raise their game and step up to the challenge to emerge 8-4 winners on the day. Jena Siegel '04 and Amy Roche '07 fell 8-1 in their match while Kristin Baker '04 and Claire Smyser '07 emerged victorious against their opponent 8-4 to complete the rout.

Co-captain Siegel commented, "The games against Union were good preparation for this weekend when we take on Wesleyan and Tufts at home." Those matches are sure to be considerably more challenging than last weekend and will give the women a good indication of where they stand in relation to their peers.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the season so far for the women has been the fact that the work put in on the practice courts is beginning to pay dividends in matches. All of the doubles teams are new this year, and while they are working on their teamwork and understanding, efforts have been taken to play a more aggressive style of tennis. A better transition game has also been something the women are working to achieve and, if the score last weekend is any indication, they must be doing something right.

The Newitt Tournament hosted by Amherst in mid-October is the primary focus of the season for the women, but there are big matches to be played in the run up. This coming weekend will provide a stern test for the Panthers, while next weekend the visit of Williams will be a match to watch also. On current form though, the talented team of women have reason to be confident and this confidence should hold them in good stead in the weeks to come.