Written by Sophie Thibodeaux // Photo by Balazs Balassa
The men’s and women’s tennis teams have continued to make progress in their matches during the spring 2023 season, with the men’s team holding an overall record of 8-7 and the women’s at 6-11 as of March 29.
The women’s team defeated the University of Texas Permian Basin 5-1 in Searcy March 16 but then lost to Southwest Baptist University 0-4 in Springfield, Missouri, the next day.
The men’s team lost 3-4 against Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, Thursday, March 23, but came back the following day to beat Newman University 4-3 in Wichita, Kansas.
Freshman Georgia Plunkett said the season has had its ups and downs, but she looks forward to the rest of their matches.
“We’ve got quite a few matches coming up that are important, including a conference home match next week and four conference matches that will be home matches,” Plunkett said.
Freshman Karli Roux said the upcoming conference matches will be important ones for the Lady Bisons.
“Those matches will most likely be very difficult, but we hope we can get a lot of people to come out and show their support for the team,” Roux said.
Head tennis coach David Redding said he feels he has seen growth in his players throughout this season.
“I feel good enough about our team’s competitive ability,” Redding said. “It will be a dogfight in the coming conference matches to see who comes out on top.”
Redding said this year’s teams have a lot of talent, though they’ve been faced with issues such as injuries.
“I do think this year’s team has the most talent and depth that Harding has ever had in comparison to previous years and seasons,” Redding said. “We are playing against a lot of nationally ranked teams, and we have had quite a few injuries, so our record has not been as good, but we have greatly improved and have done so much better.”
