The women’s tennis team got back on track with a 5-1 victory at NCAC rival Wooster on April 14th. This was their first victory since the opening match of their Hilton Head spring break trip on March 19.

Standouts Yina Wyss, ’10, and Molly Findley, ’10, had an undefeated day, as they proved in each of their singles matches and provided to also be a deadly duo, defeating the competition from Wooster by a score of 8-3.

The doubles pairs of Amanda Bolger and Jackie Conrad along with the pair of Tamara Prairie and Meggie Oravec won their matches. The doubles teams for Allegheny combined for an impressive 3-0 sweep of the Fighting Scots.

This could be the turning point for the Gators. They have three NCAC match-ups before the regular season concludes on April 22. However, the competition does not get easier when they travel to Oberlin this Saturday. Oberlin is 7-5 on the season. They also compete against Clarion and Denison, who are both 7-3 on the year.

“I feel that this trip really helps turn around the tennis season. We had been struggling beforehand, and since we got back from the trip it has helped the morale of the team,” Findley said.

The team is confident that this game can be a stepping stone to many more wins this season.

A win is a win, and this team, whose roster is composed of four freshmen, is ready for bigger and better things. The team is going to have to keep up a high level of play, like the kind showed in Wooster, to have a shot to turn this season around.

The women’s team is now 2-5 on the spring, 5-9 on the year, and 1-2 in conference play.

In men’s tennis, the Gators continued to have success with a win at Oberlin. Matt Chiricosta, Russell Nitzberg and Reid Levin all did their jobs by defeating opposing Oberlin players in singles play. The Gators earned a 3-3 split in singles play with Oberlin.

The combinations of Andrew Zipf and Matt Chiriscosta along with Reid Devin and Nicholas Lieb won their doubles matches to take two out of three of the doubles competition.

The Gators then took a forty-five mile trip south to Wooster College. The Gators were unable to escape the state of Ohio with a 2-0 road trip following a loss to the Fighting Scots by a score of 5-2.

The team’s start is impressive considering the number of newcomers on the team. This idea was reflected by Evan Gordon, ’10.

“We might have surprised some people by beating Oberlin and we played Wooster pretty tough,” he said. The team is competing better than expected considering we lost three starters from last year.”

Matt Chiricosta and Ben Hurtuk left with personal victories, but contrary to ESPN, tennis is not an individual sport. It was the doubles competition that proved to be tough for Allegheny, as they lost all three of the doubles match ups.

The schedule will continue to be tough for the Gators. Two NCAC giants stand in the way of Allegheny tennis reaching the top.

“Kenyon and Denison, who we finish the season against, will be two tough conference tests,” Gordon said. “We will have to play at our highest level to be competitive with these teams.”

Following the Ohio road trip, the Gators are 5-5 in the spring, 6-8 overall and 3-1 in the NCAC.