By Tayla MacPherson
The University of Puget Sound’s women’s tennis team has brought a higher level of confidence and competitiveness to the court this season. The team has won five and lost four in conference, and have a record of 7-6 overall. Sunday, March 19, the team competed against Whitworth University (Washington), winning 5-4.
Junior Tresa Bild (Boise, Idaho) played a competitive game of doubles with Barclay Fagg (Billings, Montana) against Whitworth. Bild stated the elevated level of energy enabled the two players to beat the Pirates by two points.
“Doubles went really well for me that day. Her and I stayed focused, kept our energy high, and produced huge wins on high pressure points. We have come very far as a doubles team this season and that win was validation for all the work and adversity that we have overcome so far. For me, Sunday was a battle of mental toughness overcoming a fatigued body. Edging out that doubles team to put [Puget Sound] ahead 2-1 going into singles was a very big statement. Had [the team] gone into singles with a 1-2 deficit, we wouldn’t have had the momentum — so Barclay and I getting that finals doubles win was crucial,” Bild said.
The following Tuesday (March 21) the tennis team competed against Colorado College (Colorado) at home, a high level Division III school outside of the Northwest Conference. Unfortunately, the team took a hard loss, 8-1. However, the team has been challenged with multiple games per weekend in several occasions, putting extreme pressure and fatigue on each player.
Holly Hogan (St. Louis, Missouri) a sophomore with firstyear student eligibility speaks to the tennis team’s culture this season.
“Although tennis is generally viewed as an individual sport, the team culture is very supportive and collaborative. In practice, everyone encourages each other and helps each other improve and that mentality really translates to the match days as well. We have made an effort to spend time outside of tennis together through team bonding, which has also helped keep a positive culture on the court,” Hogan explained.
The women’s tennis team’s record this season has increased greatly from previous seasons. This correlates to the large first-year student class head coach McIntosh recruited this year. The first-year student class makes up exactly half of the team. In addition, the squad also gained a new assistant coach, Hannah Lebowitz. Coach Lebowitz was a Division I tennis player at Arizona State.
Hogan speaks to the benefits of having two different quality coaching perspectives.
“The new assistant coach, Hannah, is a very experienced tennis player, and has been very helpful for the team. She has helped me with technical aspects of the game as well as mental aspects. She gives great advice on how to set up points and how to adjust your game depending on who you are playing, which has also been very helpful. Our head coach, Lyle McIntosh, is very supportive and flexible, making sure everyone fits in practice around busy academic schedules,” Hogan said.
The squad hopes to continue their improvement throughout the rest of the season. The Loggers is ranked fifth out of nine in the Northwest Conference overall standings and Whitman (Washington) is ranked first. The Puget Sound women’s tennis team is eager to play Whitman again, after improving immensely from their first conference match against the number one seed.
Bild expresses her excitement to face the Whitman squad for the second time.
“Moving forward, I am looking forward to playing Whitworth again and improving against Whitman. We see the top two teams the last two matches of season — not the outcome, but how we perform in those matches, will be a testament to everything we have worked for and how far we have come this year. Last year we were nowhere near contention for post-season, but we are now … and that’s big,” Bild said.
Unlike most years, the women’s tennis team has a chance to compete for the conference championship, as stated by Junior Tresa Bild. The team’s endurance and confidence has pushed them through a hard schedule and the negatives of having a young team.
Sophomore Nicole Bouche (Brier, Washington) addressed the team’s goals for the season and their hopes for the rest of the season.
“Basically, our goal for this season is to improve our overall level of playing and to compete with the top three teams in the conference. Along with that, improving our ranking in the conference and beating certain schools that we were really close with last season,” Bouche said. The women’s tennis team competes away against Whitman on April 8 as well as Whitworth the same weekend (April 9).
