The women’s tennis team has been celebrating several victories this past week. They beat Henderson State University 9-0 on Tuesday, March 18. The team went on to beat Lane College 9-0 in Jackson, Tenn., on Wednesday, March 19. The women’s team then defeated University of Nebraska at Kearney 6-3 on Monday.
Freshman Arielle Butler won both of her doubles and singles matches on Tuesday. The team did not lose a single match in any position on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. Butler said the team has to keep their confidence level up and encourage one another for future matches.
“We work hard in practice,” Butler said. “Now that we’re in the conference season, those matches mean so much, and we all know it, so we are extra focused.”
Butler said she prepares herself physically and mentally before every match. She said it is crucial for the team to keep up their determination and believe in themselves when they are going up against good teams.
“Physically, I prepare by doing the exact same things in warm-up in the same order before every match,” Butler said. “Mentally, I tell myself I can compete with whoever happens to be on the other side of the court and that if I just keep grinding, good things will happen.”
Junior Benyapa Phumtip did not play on Wednesday but said the team did a great job and played hard. Phumtip said the team always prays before a match and always tries to encourage one another.
“I think our team just needs to play with consistency,” Phumtip said. “We need to stay positive and relax when we play.”
University of Nebraska at Kearney was the team’s first regionally ranked opponent. The women won four of the six singles matches. The match was held at home on Monday.
“The girls played great yesterday against University of Nebraska at Kearney,” coach Marco Ruiz said.”This was thebest match some of them played all year.”
Ruiz said the team is going to keep working hard inside and outside the tennis courts to prepare for future matches. The women’s team has two important matches coming upthis weekend. The team will be playing against Northwest Missouri Universityin Bolivar, Mo., on Friday and against Southern Nazarene University at 10 a.m. on Saturday at home.
“We are going to keep working on our doubles strategy,” Ruiz said. “But mainly all we need to do right now is to keep our level of confidence up and stay positive.”
