With the final conference match of their regular season finished and Findlay defeated, the Hillsdale College tennis team (8-6) looks forward to preparing for GLIACS.
The Chargers beat the OIlers 6-3 last night in the Biermann Center, with wins coming from all three doubles teams, and the singles matches of junior Morgan Delp, sophomore Lindsay Peirce, and freshman Jada Bissett
The win, along with two over the weekend, means the Chargers are heading to the GLIAC tournament, most likely seeded sixth of the eight teams in the draw. They are poised to seek revenge on third-seeded Tiffin University. Hillsdale lost to the Dragons 6-3 earlier this season.
Starting out the weekend slowly with a 6-3 loss against Walsh University this past Friday, the team gained momentum as the weekend progressed, resulting in a 9-0 win against Lake Erie College on Saturday and an 8-1 win against Malone University on Sunday.
Head coach Nikki Walbright said that now that the team knows they have a spot in the GLIACs guaranteed, they can practice with more focus.
“Now that we know we are returning to the GLIACs, we have a better idea of what we need to do and get to see what we need to accomplish to compete well at GLIACs,” Walbright said.
Freshman Jada Bissett said the team not only focuses on the physical part of tennis, but also the mental part, such as building confidence, continuing to play aggressively, and playing under pressure situations.
“[Tennis] is a really mental sport and that’s what makes it difficult to practice,” Bissett said.
But for the tennis team, the key to perfecting their mental game as well as their physical game comes down to how they practice.
“We are really trying to just get a ton of reps in, meaning we are playing a lot of points, a lot of tiebreakers, hitting a lot of serves, to make sure that when we are in the pressure situation of GLIACs, muscle memory and confidence takes over,” junior captain Morgan Delp said.
Delp said that while the wins of the weekend were part of a necessary confidence boost before heading to GLIACs, the team needs to focus on each match as it happens.
“After coming off these past wins we are really excited. We definitely want to stay strong against the other teams,” Bissett said.
Walbright hopes the girls remember that a positive attitude and enjoying the game are also key aspects of success in tennis.
“[Our team members] have been really positive and eager to win,” Walbright said. “So they just need to keep working really hard and continue having fun.”
