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April 12, 2005
Tennis teams try to overcome season-long struggles
Hamline’s tennis teams have had a trying season so far this year. The men’s team has won, but also lost a few close matches; the women’s team has battled injuries and illness all spring.
Despite the struggles, assistant coach Andy Coutts has been proud of his teams and hopes to see things pick up in the season’s final stages.
“The men’s team has done well with some good wins and close losses, but the women have had a lot of injuries,” he said.
The biggest win for the men’s team this year came against Grinnell, a team ranked 14th in the Midwest Region.
“The win was reinforcement for [the teams] because of all the hard work that paid off, and [it was] a confidence builder for playing higher-level teams later in the year,” Coutts said.
The women have struggled most of the season, but Coutts acknowledged that injury and illness has led to the lackluster play.
The Piper women have suffered a few serious knee injuries; at times this spring, four out of the nine players were out with injury or illness. At any given time at least two players have been sidelined.
Said Coutts: “We have never been at full strength at any match yet. It’s been frustrating, and we just haven’t been able to overcome it. Some of the things are beyond our control as players and coaches.”
Though Hamline hasn’t scored well as a team, the Piper men’s and women’s number-one doubles teams of Ben Watkins/Jon Henning and Hilary Wilson/Kristen Bothun have both had a successful spring.
“They really compete and have shown some mental toughness against tougher teams, some much better competition than themselves,” Coutts said.
With MIAC championships on the horizon, both programs will have to peak by overcoming battles with injuries to be successful during the tournament.
Coutts believes the MIAC is looking “very strong” from top to bottom this year and said it “might be the top conference in the country.”
Posted by msveum at April 12, 2005 04:15 PM
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