The Oberlin College tennis teams felt both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat this weekend as each team split, 1-1.
The men traveled to Hope College in Michigan to compete in the Great Lakes College Association Championships while the women journeyed to Springfield to battle two conference rivals at Wittenberg University.
For the Yeomen the weekend included a win, a loss and sweet revenge. In the first game the men took on Albion College, a team they had lost to back on Feb. 15 in the season opener, 5-2. This time, however, Oberlin came out on top.
Initially it seemed that history would repeat itself as the Yeomen were swept in the doubles matches.
“We were lacking energy during doubles and we dropped the point,” sophomore Brad White said. “In singles, however, everyone was able to raise their level of intensity.”
Junior captain Jamie Frankel led things off at first singles with a decisive win, 6-1, 6-1, and sophomore Mark Knee followed suit with a victory at fourth singles, 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Nick Ogren also stepped up with a big win.
“Nick played an outstanding match,” White said, “and he made a great comeback.”
Ogren would go on to win by a score of 6-4, 6-3.
The second match for the men was against top-seeded Kalamazoo College.
“They were a solid team up and down the line-up,” White said. “They’re ranked in the top ten in the country.”
Although the Yeomen lost the match 6-1, White felt the score to be only a moderate indicator of Oberlin’s performance.
“All of the matches were competitive,” he said. “We won one and three others were very close.”
Frankel picked up the solitary point for the Yeomen with a 6-3, 7-6 win over top-ranked Michael Malavitz.
“K’zoo was a solid match for most of our team,” Frankel said. “I was happy with the way I played in beating their number one. He is nationally ranked so that is a good win for me.”
In other singles action Kalamazoo’s Matt Harding downed junior Marian Bocek at second singles while Ogren fell at the two spot. Knee put forth a solid effort in his loss to Dave Atallah, while Tony Klemptner defeated first-year David Cotter at fifth singles. And Rosenheim took Carlos Rincon to the limit before dropping the match, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 10-8.
“Our ability to compete with Kalamazoo gives us the confidence that we can play with anyone in the country,” White said. “Our team is only improving and things are looking great for the rest of the season and next year. With conference [championship] coming up this is the perfect time for us to hit our high point.”
“Although we beat Albion, we still haven’t had everyone play their best on the same day,” Frankel said. “Hopefully on Thursday when we play Kenyon, we can do that. It will be a good test to see how far we’ve come this season.”
On the other side, the Yeowomen defeated Earlham College, while losing to Wittenberg University in two tough matches.
Against Earlham, the team began on a sour note, dropping two of the three doubles matches. Picking up a key point for the team was the tandem of senior captain Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz and sophomore Ary Amerikaner at first singles in an 8-2 win.
In the singles matches the Yeowomen found their stroke. Leading the way was Fotiu-Wojtowicz who won at first singles, 6-2, 6-1. Amerikaner won in second singles in dominating fashion, 6-0, 6-0, while third singles was taken by sophomore Jessica Hauser.
The final score in the match was 7-2, with Oberlin taking the conference win.
The Wittenberg match turned out to be a tough loss for the Yeowomen; but it was a chance to highlight two of the team’s top performers.
Junior Whitney Reichheld and senior Laura Koehn have been tearing through the competition at the four and five singles spots.
“They both have crazy records,” Fotiu-Wojtowicz said. “Laura has the best record of anyone in the conference.”
Koehn is currently holding a 17-1 record in singles competition. Her win over Wittenberg’s Deana Nowakowski, 6-1, 6-2, was a solid indicator of her play.
Reichheld has also shown talent at fourth singles.
She holds a record of 15-3 which also places her among the top players in the conference. On Saturday she defeated Wittenberg’s Megan Maher, 6-1, 6-1.
Despite the great play by Reichheld and Koehn, Wittenberg proved to have too much firepower for the Yeowomen.
Fotiu-Wojtowicz dropped a tough match in first singles, 6-4, 6-3, while Amerikaner fell to Shannon Oliphant.
“The loss was a real heartbreaker,” Fotiu-Wojtowicz said. “But it just makes us want Kenyon even more. I think that we have a realistic chance at Kenyon this year for the first time since I have been there.”
Both Oberlin tennis teams played Kenyon College on Thursday, with the men falling 6-1 and the women 7-1.
Sophomore Ananya Balaram took the sole men’s victory.