Women's Tennis Third at NCACs

The women's tennis team ended their season last weekend at the NCAC tournament at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA after racking up a total of 16 regular season wins against nine losses. In the NCAC, the team scored six wins and gave up two losses.

The Yeowomen beat Wittenberg 7-2 in the first round but fell to Denison in the second round. They regrouped against Allegheny, winning 5-4 to secure third place in the conference. The Yeowomen also became the first Oberlin squad to qualify for Midwest Regionals.

"Everyone played well, especially first-year Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz," said junior captain Beth Krupski. "She came up with another deciding victory over Allegheny at [number] two singles." Fotiu-Wojtowicz won 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.

"We played very well and everybody contributed," said head coach Don Hunsinger.

This year's team was led by captains Krupski and senior Jill Brockelman. Hunsinger emphasized that leadership was shown not only by the captains but by all members of the team at crucial moments throughout the season.

"Different people really filled that [leadership] role in different matches [throughout] the entire season," said Hunsinger.

One of the season's highlights was the Yeowomen's victory against Hope College at the GLAC tournament, which paved the way for the Midwest Regional qualification. "We really played well that day and impressed everybody who was at that tournament," said Hunsinger. Sophomore Sarah Jesse's stellar play also stands out. She will find out within a week whether she qualifies for Nationals.

The Yeowomen's prospects for next year are bright. They will lose Brockelman to graduation, but they hope to regain junior Claudia Martinez, who sat out most of the season with an elbow injury. The Yeowomen will regroup in the fall, when they begin a four week pre-season.

The men's team has had a less successful season than the women thus far. Last weekend, they lost 4-3 to Alma College of Michigan, dropping their record to 5-15 overall, 1-3 in the East Division of the NCAC. Wins were turned in by #1 Singles junior Michael Shelton (7-6, 6-1), senior Jon Stinson at #2 Singles (6-3, 6-4) and junior Ben Fox at #3 Singles (6-2, 6-2). Junior Brendan Mislin lost a close match at to Alma freshman Mark O'Bryan 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-6).

"Despite our narrow loss, we were happy with the overall team effort and we will hope to carry that same intensity into our conference tournament this weekend," said Captain Jon Stinson.

Oberlin faces their last challenge of the season this weekend at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. There they will compete against the other top teams in the NCAC (only four from each division qualify for the tournament).

"This team has already exceeded our expectations," said Hunsinger. "We lost four out of the top six players [from last year's squad]. We'd like to finish sixth or seventh."

The team will play three matches regardless of what happens in the first match. Hunsinger emphasized that the second match will be the critical one for the Yeomen. Oberlin is ranked eighth.

The Yeomen will face-off against home-team Denison first, who is ranked number one in the conference.