Calvin women’s tennis defeated Olivet 9-0 on Saturday, April 18 then defeated Adrian 8-1 on Wednesday, April 22.

Taking each aspect of the game into consideration, the Knights practice each day with motivation to drive them through the remainder of their season. The three seniors lead the way with hope to land third place in the MIAA conference.

Coach Kevin Van Haitsma believes that the reason they took the set was starting off strong with their doubles.

Megan Visser, senior co-captain, said, “For the last couple weeks of practice, we will continue to work on being aggressive and attacking the net.”

The team and coach Van Haitsma’s goals are to walk away with a third place spot in the conference, substantially improving from their fifth place spot last year. Because it is very difficult to be nationally ranked in tennis, this is an achievement the Knights are proud of.

“This team has been very good with their mental toughness,” said Van Haitsma. “I feel that in most matches, we are better than the opponents at staying mentally focused in every single point.”

Facing the final weeks of any season are filled with different emotions. Among these emotions are tremendous amounts of excitement, a little bit of nervousness as playoffs draw near and also sadness as the team they have grown all season will soon part ways.

However, with determination in their minds, the team—consisting of three seniors, three sophomores and two first-year students—will exude ferocity to claim their third place spot, with a strong hope of advancing to regionals.

Visser sees the potential her team has: “We have a very good team and we like to exceed our expectations.”

In the midst of all the talent on the Calvin women’s tennis team, sophomore Ellie Benzel was recognized this week as “Player of the Week.” Winning both of the matches at number two singles in consecutive sets for the week, this honorable award was much deserved.

Visser was named “Player of the Week” earlier this year and is one of the few that has played number one singles each tennis season of her four years at Calvin.

Because the team has a lot of talent, and with over half of the team being underclassmen this year, Calvin’s future in tennis looks bright. The team will miss seniors Visser, Ali Roode and Courtney Selvius, but will utilize their skills while they can.

Reminiscing about her past four years playing for Calvin, Visser said: “I plan to continue playing tennis forever, but I won’t be part of an amazing team forever.”

The Knights invite you to join in on their fun to come and see their final tennis match at home against Trine University this Saturday, April 25, where walking away with another win will lock up third place.