Both tennis teams are two games into the conference season. The men sit in second with a 2-0 record, while the women are tied for fourth with a 2-1 record.
For the men, seniors Matt Buesing and Tom Griffin have worked well together on doubles. They have gone 7-2 in dual matches, which has helped the Knights score many crucial points.
First-year student Matt Van Winkle has also contributed a lot of points for the team, going 1-1 in second-singles and 6-1 in the third-singles spot.
Griffin has been proud of his team’s performance this year after a disappointing finish last year. “The team this year is much more stable and confident. The past year was quite disappointing.”
Van Winkle has also been proud of the team effort. He said, “We worked very hard on the off season and that hard work is paying off with our conference wins.
Personally I have really found my singles form over the past month, culminating with an exciting win at second-singles against Spring Arbor. … [Matt] couldn’t miss a shot against Adrian, helping us to our 5-4 victory.”
For the women, a balanced effort from sophomore Ellie Benzel (4-3 in second-singles and 5-1 in third-singles), first-year student Jessica Bouma (9-4 in four-singles) and senior Ali Roode (9-3 in five-singles) has helped the Knights find success.
A tight match against Albion Wednesday night kept women’s tennis within reach of the top of the conference moving them into a tie for fourth.
Senior Megan Visser, 5-8 in first-singles, lost on Wednesday but was optimistic about her team’s chance to compete in the conference tournament.
“We have a strong team and a really awesome coach! We just beat Albion today which was a big win for us.
One of our goals as a team is to make the MIAA tournament at the end of the season and with the win today we have a very good chance.”
Visser also added, “We just started conference play last week, so we still have a huge chunk of the season left. After this week, we have four home matches in a row,” she said.
Both teams will be in action this weekend. The men will participate in the MIAA/NCAC Tournament and the women will take on St. Mary’s at home.
