Yeowomen win one out of three at GLCA

Yeowomen return to defeat College of Wooster 7-2 on Wednesday

When the women's tennis team went to Ohio Wesleyan University for the GLCA tennis tournment, it was nine dual-matches into the season. However, the Yeowomen had never played more than one match in a day, so by the time the third match of the tournament came around the Yeowomen could barely lift their rackets.

Senior Julieta del Rio said, "We played tennis, then we had lunch, we played tennis, then we ate dinner, and then we played tennis."

The Yeowomen finished their last match at one a.m.

The Yeowomen's first opponent was DePauw College from Indiana, the third seed of the tournament and one of the top 10 teams in the nation. The Yeowomen were dismantled 7-2.

Captain senior Helen Kang earned Oberlin's only victory in singles by winning the decisive third set after falling in the tiebreaker to decide the second set 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2. First-year Tara Sievers won her first set, but then lost the second set and the tie-breaker 5-7, 6-2, (7-5). A tie-breaker, after the second set, was used to speed up the matches because of limited court space.

Sievers would have liked to have played a third set, "[My opponent] was not killing me. It would've been a really good match."

Kang and vice-captain junior Bethany Pribila, the first doubles team, beat their opponents 8-2, for the Yeowomen's lone doubles victory.

After the match the Yeowomen had a 45-minute break before taking the court to face the College of Wooster.

The Yeowomen crushed Wooster 6-1. The Yeowomen won five of the six singles matches. As the fifth seed, Del Rio pulled out a victory by winning the tie-breaker after losing the first set, 3-6, 6-2, (7-5). Junior Erika Bradford lost 6-3, 6-2. First-year Yukari Kubo won 6-4, 6-4.

Kang and Pribila won the lone doubles match, 8-2. The second and third doubles teams did not play since Oberlin had already clinched the match and the Yeowomen needed all the rest they could get. In a tournament the teams can stop play if they are decidedly ahead in the match.

After an hour dinner break, the Yeowomen took on OWU at 10 p.m. While the team was tired after two consectuve matches, OWU was rested, having only played one match in the morning. While the Yeowomen ate dinner, the Battling Bishops warmed up.

The fatigued Yeowomen lost 5-2 to a hot OWU team. Sievers and Bradford won their doubles match 8-4, and Sievers won her singles match 6-0, 6-3 for the Yeowomen's only points. Bradford lost a tie-breaker to fall 6-4, 2-6,(6-2).

Wednesday, the College of Wooster traveled to Oberlin trying to avenge its earlier defeat. They failed and the Yeowomen won the conference match 7-2. Bradford overwhelmed Sara Mickelson of Wooster, coming from behind to win 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) and overcame an earlier loss, 6-4. Kubo lost 7-6(7-4), 6-4 to Kirsten Shriver, whom she beat last Friday.

Friday the Yeowomen travel to Case Western Reserve University to make up a match canceled by a sudden snowstorm. This Saturday the team hosts a double-header against Cedarville College.

Low places: Bethany Pribila goes down for the backhand. Although the Yeowomen lacked endurance at the GLCA tournament, there were many excellent individual performances. (photo by Richard Hong)