We had a wonderful start to our season tonight. After a long wait in which the team did a terrific job working hard and coming together as a group, we came off the court with a 9-0 win over University of Puget Sound. Often in tennis you hear that the match was closer than the score indicates. In this case that was both true and untrue. The teams were closer as UPS played very good tennis up and down the lineup with better depth than last season, but our players all stepped up to earn each match.
Upperclassmen Elise and Div led the way at #1 doubles beating a seasoned team of Sam Taylor and Maddie Holtz 8-2. Emily and Kate at #3 followed by the same score and Hadley and Alyssa at #2 finished very strong with an 8-3 win.
In singles, Elise was again the first off, followed closely by Div. This was great tennis and very good match management from both Whitties as they fought through many close games and each stepped up at the right times. Hadley followed suit and built more and more momentum as the match went on. Kate K-P stepped up in her first college singles match and fought well to earn her first victory, as did Lauren in the exhibition match.
The real treat was from our sophomores, with Charlotte demonstrating the poise and improvement she's shown in practice with a straight set win. And finally, there was Emily. After playing an outstanding doubles match, she ran into a very tough UPS player in Ada Yu. Em bounced back after dropping serve to end the first set 5-7 to storm through the second 6-2 and go up 5-2 in the third. At this point everyone was watching and you wouldn't have known that the match was already decided or that this was #4 because both players saved their best tennis for last and after two very hard fought games to 5-4, the match was on Emily's racket. She did not disappoint and hit huge serves and big groundstrokes to hold and take the match 6-4 in the third.
It was so much fun to have Annie Kunkel, the Rolstons, Alum Alex Robinson and the rest of the Whitman fans supporting us and we're fired up for tomorrows double header with PLU at 11am followed by LCSC.
Here are today's match scores
Doubles:
#1 Elise Otto and Divneet Kaur (WC) def. Sam Taylor and Madison Holtz (UPS) 8-2
#2 Hadley DeBree and Alyssa Roberg (WC) def. Ada Yu and Maddie Thiesse (UPS) 8-3
#3 Emily Rolston and Kate Kunkel-Patterson (WC) def. Katie Hurley and Ashley Dombrow (UPS) 8-2
Singles
#1 Otto def Taylor 6-0,6-1
#2 DeBree def Holtz 6-1,6-0
#3 Kaur def Thiesse 6-0,6-1
#4 Rolston def Yu 5-7, 6-2,6-4
#5 Kunkel-Patterson def Devin Fields 6-2,6-0
#6 Charlotte Scott def Dombrow 6-0,6-2
#7 (exhibition) Lauren Olson def Hurley 8-4
News from Coach John Hein
Summer Tennis Camps and Events:
Team Photo's on Flickr!
Coaching Philosophy
To me, being a college student is about opportunity and growth. As a coach, I consider myself lucky to spend 4 years providing opportunity while nurturing growth. We use common goals, hard work, open communication, respect and accountability as means to building meaningful relationships and improving each player’s skill set on and off the court. This means embodying championship virtues to inspire athletic, academic and personal growth that not only happens while you are at Whitman, but becomes a part of who you are throughout life.