The women’s tennis team is set for a strong spring a year removed from barely missing the NESCAC tournament, thanks in part to a roster stocked with eight returnees. Among them is Casey Simchik ’10, who finished 9-3 last year, tying her for second on the team in wins and giving her the fewest losses among players with at least five matches. Though she primarily played at the sixth spot, Simchik also moved up to number five and number four, winning all three of her matches in those positions.
Simchik saw her first action as a freshman during a fall match at Bates, earning a 6-2, 6-1 win and helping lead the team to a 7-2 triumph. She returned to action during a spring trip to Florida, stepping in to fill the void left by captain Tori Santoro ’07, who broke her collarbone just before spring break. Simchik won all five of her matches as the team enjoyed a 5-0 trip. She played at the number-six spot three times in the trip but also moved up to fifth for a match against Michigan Tech and fourth against St. Scholastica; she won three of four sets (in addition to a best-of-ten tiebreaker against Michigan Tech) in those positions.
Simchik lost her first two matches after the team returned north but rebounded to win three of her last four and the team ended the season by winning four of its last five matches. Her lone loss in that span came in a 9-0 loss to Williams. Simchik returned to the fourth spot for the season finale at Mount Holyoke and emerged with a 0-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory.
Simchik remained at the number-four spot as the team opened the 2007-08 season. She won her first match but dropped the next two before rebounding with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Colby-Sawyer in the sixth spot. Simchik moved up to number five but dropped a close match against Babson in the team’s final match; she narrowly fell in her first match in the sixth spot at the New England Division III Tournament to end the fall season.
The team went 4-1 in the fall, finishing with the best overall record among the eleven NESCAC teams. The team will head into the spring season with no seniors for the second year in a row, so it will be up to players like Simchik to carry the load. As she showed last spring, she is more than capable of helping this team continue its recent run of excellence.
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