Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams will look to continue their recent winning streaks when they host Stony Brook on Sunday morning.
The men (6-3) head into the weekend having handily won their last three matches, including, most recently, a 7-0 sweep of Colgate.
“It was definitely a good match to hone our skills and get extra wins under our belts for confidence,” said freshman Kyle Doppelt.
Freshman Josh Goldstein believes that the team has played “decently,” but thinks that they are “nowhere close to how good they can be.”
“I think that we are good enough to win the Ivy League if we play up to our potential. I think if guys continue to work hard and push themselves in practice and in the matches that we really have an excellent chance to win the Ivy League,” Goldstein said. “But we have not really had a match where we have all really put it together and everybody has really stepped up. I think to step up as a team and to reach the level we are trying to get to, everybody needs to be accountable … and contribute his part, or whatever they need to do to help the team.”
The Stony Brook (3-4) match is the last tune-up for the Red’s trip down to Texas over spring break.
“We are all pretty confident that we will take care of them,” Doppelt said. “Were just trying to win this game.”
The women’s team is coming off a solid weekend where it posted wins over Temple and Cincinnati. Each of these teams defaulted one or more matches in last week’s bout with the Red, and while that clearly helped the team in terms of results, head coach Laura Glitz had mixed feelings.
“I was a little disappointed because I thought this was a good opportunity to get a lot of girls in to play,” she said.
This weekend’s match against Stony Brook (3-1) is the team’s final match before it heads out to California for a series of matches over spring break and then begins facing Ivy League opponents. Glitz was very optimistic about the Red’s chances based on some of their recent play.
“In our singles, everybody has … been playing well, pretty much all the way down the line,” she said.
Even though the team has started out strong with a 5-1 record, Glitz believes that there is room for improvement. She thinks that many of the players have not quite reached their potential but that they are making headway with every match they play.
After Sunday’s match, the team will go up against three top teams from California, all of which are nationally ranked.
“We obviously have to play well to beat them, but I’m hoping that if we can win one or both, then we will get in the national rankings,” Glitz said.
This trip is a very crucial part of the team’s season, as it marks the midway point, and Glitz is optimistic about their upcoming challenges.
“In the next couple of weeks I feel like we are going to get better as a team,” she said.