Women's tennis win one

After destroying Allegheny team loses to Denison

Tuesday, after a dismantling of Allegheny College on Saturday, conference rival Denison University came to town to challenge the women's tennis team for second seed at the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Big Red have traditionally challenged the Yeowomen for second place, behind national powerhouse Kenyon College.

Unfortunately this time, on Oberlin's sunny outdoor courts, the Yeowomen didn't have their best stuff as they fell 7-2 to a confident and consistent Denison team.

Before this, The Yeowomen whipped Allegheny College, 7-2. Their record now stands at 3-2 in conference, and 9-8 overall.

Against Allegheny the Yeowomen were pumped up to play a team with a record of 16-1 and expected them to be at the top of their game. Oberlin came out aggressive but were still surprised with the ease of their victory.

"Their team wasn't that strong," co-captain senior Erica Bradford said.

First-year Jill Brockelman continued her string of impressive matches with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at number five singles. Co-captain senior Bethany Pribila and Bradford also won their singles matches 6-0, 6-1.

Tuesday, after playing their first 16 matches pretty much up to their expectations, the Yeowomen let lack of sleep, tiredness, and drowsiness get the best of them. Most of the team played down as they faced their rival.

"This match comes after two matches where we really played dominant tennis," Coach Don Hunsinger said. "Psychologically rather than physically we were bothered."

"They were more patient," junior Kate Petersen said. "There is a small margin [in ability] between us. At the conference tournament, it could come down to who wants it more."

The match that set the tone for the day was second doubles, played by sophomores Leigh Ann Totty and Tara Sievers. The pair were up 6-3 in their 8-game pro-set, serving for game point, before their Denison counterparts came back and won the match in a tie-breaker 9-8(7-4).

Like many matches that day, the Yeowomen had the chance to put the games away but couldn't.

"We really didn't play that well," co-captain senior Erica Bradford said. "I still think we can beat them [at the conference tournament]."

The Yeowomen suffered a setback when Petersen pulled a muscle in her leg. Petersen continued playing, but lost her match 6-3, 6-0. Bradford and Brockelman both had poor matches, Bradford fell 6-0, 6-2 and Brockelman lost 7-5, 6-2.

Not all the Yeowomen were playing down though. Pribila played her best match of the season according to Hunsinger, as she blitzed her opponent 6-0, 6-2.

Pribila and Bradford teamed up for the Yeowomen's only other win, in first doubles 8-6.

Even with the loss to Denison the Yeowomen are still in a good position to place second at the conference tournament, provided that they can win their remaining conference matches. Sunday the team needs to beat Ohio Wesleyan University and Wittenberg University to keep their third seed for the conference tournament.

"Knowing the attitude of this team we will have that intensity level [that was missing against Denison] this Saturday," Hunsinger said. "The great thing about this team is that they will work on the things we made mistakes on. It was our only bad match of the year. That's saying a lot out of 17."