With a thwack, the Northwestern women’s tennis team ended their fall season on Wednesday, Sept. 26. The team battled Southwest Minnesota State University up in Marshall, Minn. under the coaching of Jeff Guthmiller. This was the last game of their fall season originally scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 25. Unfortunately, they lost the match, bringing their fall season standing 0-1.
Starting off with doubles play were junior Zoe Holscher and sophomore Jacqueline Ingram. Their game was a close call, ending in 6-8 in favor of SMSU. The newest recruit, freshman Rosehelen Cordova, a transfer from Peru, joined Junior Emma Van Drie for the second doubles. They were defeated 8-1.
In singles, the sole win of the night was achieved by No. 2 slot Holscher. Her game consisted of two sets 4-6, 7-6 and a tiebreaker 10-1. No. 1 Ingram played a solid game, almost winning and resulting in a tiebreaker. The first two sets were 6-2 in favor of SMSU and 6-4 in favor of NW with the tiebreaker score of 6-10. Cordova lost both sets 6-0. Van Drie and Sophomore Abby Petrick lost both sets 6-0, 6-1.
“The scores do not represent how the match went,” Jacqueline Ingram said when asked about the match and their season. All of the players felt like the team played well and even in effort with Southwest Minnesota.
NW Women’s Tennis is coming off a 5-15 record in their 2017-2018 season and a 2-5 record in the GPAC tournament with a past ranking of sixth seed. Their previous matches this fall were at the GPAC tournament held in Fremont, Neb. One other game against Buena Vista on Sept. 20 was in the books but got cancelled last minute due to weather misfortune. This did not affect their standing, as the official season has yet to start.
Feb. 2 will kick off the first game of the spring season against Bethel and Minnesota State University in Minnesota. Their first home match will be on April 6 against Concordia. Spring season will see three added players: junior Elizabeth Foster, junior Kelly Shortenhaus and senior Kendra McGinnis. Foster and Shortenhaus are involved in the women’s soccer team this fall, and McGinnis is traveling abroad. The team hopes to pick up momentum before the spring season rolls around.
