CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 13, 2010
Women's Tennis Team Picks up First Round NCAA III Tournament Win Over
Baldwin-Wallace
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 5, Baldwin-Wallace 0
CHICAGO, IL - The Calvin women’s tennis team picked up a 5-0 first round NCAA
III Tournament victory over Baldwin-Wallace College Thursday(18-8) Thursday
morning at a regional hosted by the University of Chicago. Calvin (18-3) took
early momentum with three straight doubles victories and then clinched the
victory with victories from junior Michelle Busscher at No. 5 singles and
junior Melissa Oosterhouse at No. 1 singles. Calvin will face Washington
University of St. Louis in a second round match on Friday at 10 a.m. (CST).
Over the past few weeks, Calvin has made a habit of digging out of 2-1
deficits after doubles play but on Thursday, the Knights made no mistakes
early, ripping off an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles (Rachel Strikwerda/Jill
VanVeen), an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles (Rachel DeGroot/Elisabeth Geenen) and an
8-5 win at No. 1 doubles (Oosterhouse/Kaitlin Spoelhof).
“That doubles start was so important for us,” said Calvin head coach Jerry
Bergsma after the match. “It’s been awhile since we’ve played consistently
across the board in doubles play. Our doubles play gave us a huge momentum
boost. We had the mental toughness early on that we’ve been lacking in doubles
at times during the year.”
Calvin carried the momentum into singles play as Busscher quickly rolled to a
6-0, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles and Oosterhouse followed with a match-clinching
victory at No. 1 singles by a 6-3, 6-3 score. At the time of completion of the
No. 1 singles match, Spoelhof was also up at set at No. 2 singles, Geenen up a
set and nearing a victory at No. 3 singles while Strikwerda was battling to
force a third set at No. 4 singles. The No. 6 singles match had not yet begun.
Thursday’s match was played indoors at East Chicago Bally’s Fitness Club
because of torrential rains that swept through the Chicago area Thursday
morning. The indoor courts were not unfamiliar to the Knights as they played
inside the facility two years ago in a non-conference match against the
University of Chicago. “I think mentally it’s easier to come indoors after
playing outdoors during the season,” said Bergsma. “We also practice a bit
indoors this week back home and the fact that we had played (inside) here
before definitely helped.”
Thursday’s match marked Calvin’s first-ever appearance in NCAA III Tournament
play in women’s tennis. According to Bergsma, the Knights showed little signs
of nervousness. “I told our players that there was nothing to be nervous about,”
said Bergsma. “I told them that they had earned this (tournament) bid and they
deserved to be here. We’ve also played a very challenging schedule this spring
so this match was not unlike many of the other matches we have had this
spring.”
Calvin will now turn its attention to a second round match against Washington
University of St. Louis at 10 a.m. (CST) at the University of Chicago. The
match is scheduled to played outdoors at Chicago’s Stagg Tennis Courts.
Washington University (13-5) will enter the match ranked 21st nationally.
“They (Wash. U.) are very deep,” said Bergsma. “We will definitely have a big
challenge. A key will be getting off to a strong start in doubles play.”
With her singles victory on Thursday, Oosterhouse upped her season singles
mark to 24-1 overall and to 22-0 in dual match play. Busscher improved to 17-5
in singles play while the doubles tandem of Geenen and DeGroot improved to
19-3, the tandem of Strikwerda and VanVeen to 14-7 and the pair of Oosterhouse
and Spoelhof to 16-7.
CALVIN/BALDWIN-WALLACE BOX SCORE:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/womens/tennis/results/2010/bw-cal.htm
JERRY BERGSMA POST-MATCH AUDIO INTERVIEW:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/Wtennis/JerryBergsma051310.mp3
U. of CHICAGO REGIONAL TOURNAMENT SITE:
http://athletics.uchicago.edu/tnwomen/wt-ncaa-regional-home-2010.htm
Received on Thu May 13 15:31:21 2010
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