With the win against the Emporia State Lady Hornets, the Lady Bisons tennis team won their fourth straight match and advanced to 8-3 for the season. Their next match will be in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Friday, March 24, against the University of Central Oklahoma. UCO is in the same region as Harding and currently ranked No. 7 in the central region.
On Saturday, March 25, the Lady Bisons play Southern Nazarene University, marking their first GAC match of the season.
“Our close match with Northwest Missouri State (NWMS) was probably my favorite match this season, just because every match was so important,” junior Brittany Smyser said. “It was just so much fun being able to come back and win like that.”
After falling in all three doubles matches against NWMS, the Lady Bisons knew they’d have to fight to come back. However, this wasn’t the first time they faced such a scenario. With wins at 1, 2 and 3 singles the Lady Bisons were still in it.
Butler and Faulkner lost their singles matches. Smyser played a third set to clench that match at line 4 singles for the Lady Bisons.
“This season, with the team in general, we’ve definitely gotten closer,” Smyser said. “We’ve learned to find solutions to the problems and challenges we’ve faced.”
The Lady Bisons defeated Emporia State 8-1 this past Tuesday. Emporia State is also in the same regional conference as Harding.
“It doesn’t really matter what we do,” Smyser said. “We just find a way to win and do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
With the past win against NWMS, the match against UCO will be a key determinate of how Harding will match up against other regional teams.
“I think we can play other teams on a different level just because we put in a lot of work, and it’s been a full year with the new coach,” junior Laura Golubic said. “That being said, I think we can still start off better in doubles and have better communication within doubles.”
Golubic is now 6-2 at line 2 singles and 7-4 at line 1 doubles. She won her match Tuesday by default after winning the first set 6-0 in less than 30 minutes.
“I’m pleased to see how deep our team seems to be in both our singles and doubles lineup,” head coach David Redding said. “Another thing I’m very excited about is how tough our schedule will still be going forward this year, and how quickly we get to discover where we stand against some highly ranked teams.”
