Women’s tennis will be working towards team improvement at the upcoming Intercollegiate Tennis Association tournament.
After falling 1-2 in conference Saturday, the Vikings picked up two wins on Sunday, shutting out both Illinois Wesleyan and Millikin 9-0.
Doubles matches have been a work in progress. Head coach Jon Miedema understands that their play in doubles has been a crux for the team.
“We have to be more consistent and bring a consistent energy in doubles,” said Miedema.
In their match against Carthage on Sept. 6, they were 4-2 in singles, and heading into doubles play with momentum. However, they were swept 0-3 during doubles play.
“Our players know how to play good doubles and will continue to do so,” said Miedema. “They need consistent communication and energy.”
Heading into the ITA tournament, Miedema doesn’t care how his team performed in the Whitewater Invitational, a tournament in which they placed sixth in a field of eight teams.
“The Whitewater tournament is completely different. Players don’t play singles and doubles, they only get one or the other, thus why those results aren’t team results,” said Miedema. “Our players don’t have to prove anything. As long as they compete each point. We’ve had some individual players who’ve had a lot of success in this tournament, but this tournament is just about playing great competition.”
Though their tournament play hasn’t been what was expected of the team, their match play has been very strong.
“We have a group that is incredibly resilient on the court and works really hard in practices,” Miedema said.
Overall with a current record of 8-2, Miedema believes his team has played to the best of their ability up to this point in the season.
“We have a lot of players who are capable of playing,” said Miedema. “We had some great seniors last year, but you move forward and hope other players step up. I feel they have.”