Tennis teams fall to Whitworth, rebound for dominant wins against non-conference foes

The 2011 men and women’s tennis season is under way. The Loggers have high expectations this year as they look to settle in and compete for a spot in the NWC tournament at season’s end.

Both teams have a strong core group of upperclassmen leading the way on the court and hope to capitalize on this presence of leadership with winning records.

The men’s team will rely heavily on the direction of their two captains, junior Nick Kelly (Denver, Colo.) and senior Alex Harrison (Southborough, Mass.). With a talented pair of players setting an example for the rest of the team, there should be a lot of improvement on the men’s side this year. Sophomore Ben Miller (Silverdale, Wash.) was very optimistic about the Loggers’ chances in 2011.

“Our goal this year is to make it into the conference tournament and ultimately end up with a winning record,” Miller said.

Assisting the men’s team in achieving their goals is a new coaching staff, led by first-year head coach Eric Drew.

“The new coaching staff is a nice addition for our team,” Miller said. “Their great wealth of knowledge and ability to create personal improvement in every player has made this a very fun year so far. We’re very excited to begin developing a new tradition of consistency and success under this new staff.”

So far the Logger men have performed well on the court, opening the season with a 2-2 record overall and 1-2 in NWC play. They began the season with a 5-4 victory on the road over Pacific and added another victory this past weekend at home against the College of Idaho.

Miller, Harrison, freshman Josh Stevens (Portland, Ore.) and sophomore Michael Cutter (Colorado Springs, Colo.) all picked up individual wins against the College of Idaho, while Cutter and Harrison gave the Loggers a win on the doubles side as well.

The women have also played well out of the gate, posting a 3-3 overall record so far while going 2-3 in conference play. They split a two-match set this past weekend with a loss to Whitworth on the road and a victory over Mills College at home.

Against Mills, the Loggers swept the doubles action with victories from junior Madison Holtz (Honolulu, Hawaii) and sophomore Maddie Thiesse (Chanhassen, Minn.), junior Ada Yu (Salem, Ore.) and freshman Jenna Gerdsen (Honolulu, Hawaii), and freshmen Marissa Friedman (Novato, Calif.) and Logan Thompson (Decorah, Iowa). In addition to the strong showing in doubles play, the women only dropped one singles match.

Both the men and women will take the court again this coming weekend as the women travel to Walla Walla to take on Whitman and the men battle Whitman at home.