The women's tennis team wrapped up its fall season this weekend at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT) at Amherst, where sophomore Lauren Hollender and freshman Samantha Gann paired up to win the 32-team Chris Davis B Flight.
To advance in the tournament, pairs had to win a best-of-three series, consisting of two singles matches and a doubles match.
In the Gail Smith A Flight, senior tri-captain Julia Browne and freshman Shelci Bowman reached the semifinals, losing to the Williams tandem of junior Kristin Alotta and senior Nikki Reich, whom Browne and Bowman had beaten in a dual match the previous weekend. Senior Edwina Stewart and sophomore Lindsay Katz also played in the A Flight, reaching the second round before falling to Amherst freshmen Jordan Brewer and Gabby Devlin, who went on to win the tournament.
Hollender and Gann, the No. 1 seed in the B Flight, on Saturday won all three of their matches 3-0, defeating Babson and Brandeis' No. 3 teams and Conn. College's No. 2. Their only stumbling block came on Sunday in the semifinals, when they took on Amherst's No. 5 pair. After they won the doubles match, Hollender lost her singles contest, putting all the pressure of reaching the finals on Gann, who rose to the occasion.
"I wanted to prove myself on the court, and I think I executed well," Gann said. "I exceeded my own expectations."
In the championship match, Gann and Hollender fought through fatigue to defeat Wellesley's No. 2 pair, 3-0, and take the B Flight title.
Meanwhile, Browne and Bowman beat Simmons' No. 2, Brandeis's No. 1 and Amherst's No. 3 teams en route to the A Flight semifinals. Like the previous weekend, they got the better of Alotta and Reich in doubles, but the singles matches were their downfall. Browne and Alotta, who are close friends and training partners, squared off and although Browne won their showdown at the dual match, things were different this time.
"I beat [Alotta] pretty easily last weekend, but I played pretty much a flawless match," Browne said. "I knew that this was going to be a lot tougher, and she played really well. It came down to just a few points that changed the outcome, but that's kind of what tennis is about. The better player that day is the one who wins, and Kristin was the better player in our match."
Bowman faltered in the first set against Reich and was unable to recover, as Williams took the 2-1 semifinal victory. In the finals, Reich and Alotta lost to Amherst's unstoppable pair, Brewer and Devlin, who won all their A Flight matches 3-0 and have yet to lose this fall.
The Jumbos now have several match-less months before the spring season begins, though they don't see it as a time to relax. Their offseason regimen will consist of strength and conditioning three times a week, captain's practices five times a week, team runs and even some intramural basketball.
"The offseason for a lot of Div. III tennis teams is a time where people can catch up on homework and take it a little bit easy because we do have two seasons," Browne said. "But it really is a great opportunity to get a head start. ... It's easy to just take off the winter and play a little bit and still work hard in the sessions, but to really have everybody be as motivated during the offseason gives us a really big advantage when we start up in the spring."
Browne's teammates share her commitment to working hard in the offseason.
"The captains do an incredible job motivating the team," Gann said. "Everyone is so passionate about becoming a better player, and everyone works hard off the court."
"We already had so much improvement in the fall," Katz said. "In the offseason, we're just going to get even faster and even stronger, and in the spring, I think we have a lot of potential to do even better."
