Trinity women’s tennis team’s home opening weekend was divided with two losses and one win.
The team took on Division II St. Mary’s University on Thursday, Feb. 13 for their home-opening match, but lost with a score of 8-1. This marked the team’s second consecutive loss this season, though both defeats have come at the hands of non-Division III opponents.
“Each match is different and each match is a new opportunity. Having two matches in a day, you have to focus on each one separately, not worrying about the other,” said head women’s tennis coach Matthew Haugen.
During the game on Thursday, senior Kylie Hornbeck and first year Liza Southwick scored the team’s only points in the individual matches. Sophomore Kristy Hamilton and senior Stephanie Williamson almost took their matches, but fell 9-7, and fell to 2-1 overall.
St. Mary’s swept all six singles matches, including three matches that went to three sets. Southwick lost 4-6, 6-2, and 1-6, while Williamson lost 3-6, 6-4, and 2-6. Senior Kathleen Lundquist lost 5-7, 7-6, and 5-10 during her match.
“You’re not always going to come out with a win on paper, that’s just the nature of the sport, but there is so much more to a match than the final score,” Southwick said. “We didn’t win against two top-ranked DII schools, but we fought for every ball, every point and every game. That’s what it comes down to: How we go out on the court and compete. The results will take care of themselves.”
The team’s next home matches, which took place on Saturday, Feb. 15, were split with a shutout victory of 9-0 over University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, followed by a shutout loss of 9-0 against Midwestern University. It was the team’s first shutout victory of the season, and the Tigers won all nine points with straight-set victories.
Southwick, Hornbeck and Williamson all scored points in both singles and doubles for Trinity in the opening match. Williamson teamed with Hamilton for an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles, and she also took a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles.
Hornbeck and Southwick were top line winners in doubles (8-1), then won the top two singles positions for the Tigers. Hornbeck won 6-1, 6-0 from line two, while Southwick took the line one singles point 6-0, 6-2.
Against Midwestern, Hamilton and Williamson lost a narrow 8-6 decision at line three doubles to fall behind 0-3 overall.
Southwick forced a third set in her No. 1 singles match, but eventually fell 1-6, 6-2, 4-6. Lundquist lost 5-7, 5-7 at line six as well, finishing off the day for the Tigers.
“I think one of the main things that gives us an edge over other teams is our support for each other. We all have each other’s backs, and we know that no matter how long we are out there on the court, we have 12 other girls right behind us cheering,” Lundquist said.
Trinity will be back in action on Saturday, March 1, at St. Edward’s University. Following a West Coast road trip, the Tigers will return home to host Schreiner University on March 28.
