Written by Whitney Dixon
The tennis season may be over, but with a season record of 16-4 for the Bisons and 19-7 for the Lady Bisons, and both having several honors in the Gulf South Conference, the two teams have plenty of reasons to celebrate a strong season.
“This semester we played intense, harder,”junior Ling Chan said.”We worked harder, and there were lots of matches that we were losing in a set but we would come back up to win a whole game.”
Freshman Alex Ford, junior Henrique Ruiz, senior Ivan Michelli and sophomore Helio Hashimoto allearned placement on the All-Gulf South Conference Men’s Tennis Team on Friday. Freshman Benyapa Phumtip and sophomore Chelsea Hunt were also named to All-Gulf South Conference Women’s Tennis Team. Ford and Phumtip were both named GSC West Division Freshman of the Year.
Both teams were also in the running to make it to nationals this year. Head Tennis Coach David Elliott said that the NCAA has recently changed the requirements to make it to nationals, narrowing the bracket from 64 to 48 teams.
Next year several Arkansas colleges will be leaving the Gulf South Conference to join the new Great American Conference. Elliott says this change bodes well for the futureof Harding Tennis.
“[Harding tennis is] going tostill be very strong,” Elliott said. “Within the conference itself we will not have the elite teams or as many elite teams as we have been competing against, but we will still have some very strong teams. I think the women will be in a little bit better situation as far as trying to win a conference championship; the men … probably a little better situation as well.”
Elliott said he also expects a solid recruitment for next year’s teams. The men’s team is losing one senior and the women’s team is losing three seniors. The teams will consist of several returning players, and Elliot said he expects at least one incoming player foreach team.
“I see incredible depth in ourteam for the future,” sophomore Corey Stumne said.
Elliott said he foresees the tennis teams continuing to display the sportsmanship and talent that has become a Harding tennis staple.
“We always intend to be very competitive and be the best we can possibly be, and I think our record shows that we’ve always had winning teams, and we expect to continue that,” Elliott said. “You know, you have no control over your competition, and the level of your competition. But you can control yourself and your team, and accomplish as much as you can. I feel like the future is bright for us, continues to be bright.”
