Sometimes you learn more from a loss than a win. Women’s tennis has a pair of matches to learn from after a tough weekend on the courts. Amherst, NCAA runner-up last year, dominated the Cardinals en route to a lopsided 9-0 victory. Wesleyan, losers 9-0 in 2003 as well, continue to look at their Little Three rivals with envy in their eyes and upset on their minds, but that will have to wait. A day later, the Cardinals lost a battle with Vassar on their home courts, 8-1, dropping the team’s record to 0-3 on the season.
Despite the rough losses, the women continue to be optimistic.
“Obviously a nine to zero loss is pretty difficult to look at from a positive aspect,” said Tiffany Lo ’05. “But it does show us that we have work to do. Our team as a whole is wonderful, we get along really well and are always there to help and motivate each other. [We] just need to focus on remaining positive because we are a great team with a lot of depth and talent.”
Due to the rainy conditions Saturday at Amherst, the matches were moved inside, a decision that put the Cardinals at a disadvantage.
“It was made much more tough once we knew we had to play inside,” said Ashley Brick ’05. “Everyone has an extreme home court advantage when playing indoors, as all indoor courts are very different.”
Amherst dominated the Cardinal women set after set, starting with the first game. In the top spot, Kristen Raverta of Amherst swept Lo, 8-0. Lo’s doubles partner, Brick, lost her match to Rachel Holt by the same painful 8-0 margin. Both Raverta and Holt were NCAA qualifiers last year and appear to remain on the top of their game.
“It was really tough,” Lo said of playing such a highly skilled opponent. “Kristin is just in an entirely different level of tennis than I am, but I had fun playing with her and was able to win some great points.”
Wesleyan had no more luck in the rest of the singles draw, as Victoria Santoro ’07, Susannah Ragab ’06 and Sarah Connell ’05 all lost in one set. Rika Tsuchiya ’06 drew her game into a second set, but could not prevail, as the Jeffs earned a sweep in the singles competition.
“Amherst is tough, but not unbeatable,” Connell said. “A lot of the lost games played were tied at deuce.”
The doubles were not any kinder to the Cardinals. Lo and Brick challenged their rivals, but ultimately fell 8-6.
“Without seeing the match, the score does not give anyone enough information,” Brick said. “Tiff and I could have as easily won the doubles match as lose it as we were up 6-4. The problem with tennis is that the score sometimes does not reflect the match at all.”
Lo also commented that the game had gone better than the scoreboard showed.
“The doubles match was really close and it basically showed Ash and I that we are good enough to [win]” Lo said. “Our games complement each other’s really well and I really think we can beat anybody if we are focused.”
Santoro and Ragab fell 8-0 in their doubles match, while Megan Henderson ’06 and Leah Katz ’07 had just as much luck, falling 8-2 to their Amherst opponents, closing out the day in Amherst’s favor, 9-0.
“Our team’s got the talent, we just need to believe in ourselves and continue to work and support one another,” Connell said. “Our new coach believes we can win big. So why not? Next time Amherst comes around, we’ll give them a run for their money.”
A day after the Amherst match, the Cardinals were back out on the courts again, this time dueling with the Brewers of Vassar College. Wesleyan did not fare much better against Vassar than they did against Amherst, losing 8-1.
Connell, playing in the fifth seed for the Cardinals, earned their lone point for the day, downing her Brewer rival in three sets. Connell took the first set 6-4 and recovered from a 6-0 drubbing in the second set to win the match with a 6-4 victory in the third.
Despite another solid doubles effort, Brick and Lo fell 9-7 to Vassar and the other doubles pairs faced similar outcomes.
“There isn’t much to say about it besides that it was extremely disappointing,” Brick said of the match with Vassar. “A few singles matches went to a third set and didn’t go our way. It’s hard to play back to back matches, it was really windy, but when it came down to it we just didn’t perform at the level that we are capable of performing.”
The Cardinals face off in an away game with Bentley College tomorrow, looking to pick up their first win of the season and play the way they had hoped to this year.