The Washington University women’s tennis team had a successful weekend in which the team gave Carthage College a thrashing and upset No. 18 Wheaton College. The team is now 3-1 on the season and ranked 27 in the ITA rankings while Wheaton fell to 10-1 and No. 28.

“We had two great wins this past weekend. This is just the beginning, but we are off to a great start,” said sophomore Allison Dender.

The team started out strong in doubles against Carthage, coming out 2-1. Freshman Kristin Fleming and junior Ania Tchergueiko had a tough battle at one doubles but were defeated 9-7. The comeback began when junior Erin Swaller and freshman Kalee Cassady easily won 8-0 at third doubles while freshmen Karina Kocemba and Jaclyn Bild prevailed at second doubles with a score of 8-2.

Wash. U. then put the match away by sweeping all six singles matches. Bild and Fleming dominated their opponents at three and six singles respectively, winning 6-0, 6-0. Kocemba, a local of the area, quickly defeated her opponent 6-1, 6-0 at second singles, while Dender triumphed 6-1, 6-1 at third singles, and at fifth singles, freshman Elise Sambol slammed her opponent with her powerful forehand for a score of 6-2, 6-0.

Swaller faced the toughest match of the day, but eventually prevailed at top singles, defeating Gina Klein 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

With an 8-1 win under their belt, the girls looked forward to their match the following day.

“Carthage was good preparation for our match against Wheaton, who was ranked 18. They were ranked higher than us, but we were ready to take them down,” said Cassady.

The girls were down 1-2 to the Thunder after a tough round of doubles play. Swaller and Cassady brought home a win at two doubles with a score of 8-4. The two other doubles teams were not as fortunate, as both Dender/Tchergueiko and Kocemba/Bild succumbed to the doubles skills of their opponents 8-4 at one and three doubles.

“They were good doubles players, but they already had ten matches in their season for practice, while we only had three. Next time we play them, we’ll for sure have them,” said Tchergueiko.

In singles, the Bears held strong, winning four of the six matches. At one singles, Swaller put forth a hard fight but was defeated by her opponent of untraditional playing-style 6-1, 6-1. At second singles, Bild conquered her opponent 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 despite cramping. Kocemba and Dender brought home the titles at three and four singles with wins of 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-4 respectively.

Cassady was not so lucky, as she played a tough match and was broken in the tiebreaker for the third set, with the final score of 5-7, 6-4, 10-6. At sixth singles, Fleming completed the Bears’ victory at 7-5, 6-0. To further establish their victory, Sambol and Tchergueiko won two additional exhibition matches against Wheaton.

“This weekend was not only a good bonding experience for the team but a good chance to improve our ranking. Teams are starting to hear the news that we are a deep team this year, and they are getting scared,” said Sambol.

The lady Bears return to action at the Tao Tennis center on March 18 against Graceland University after returning from their spring break trip to Hilton Head, S.C.

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.