The women’s tennis team started its spring season Saturday when the team traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to compete in the Indiana Winter Invitational.
For a season opener, traveling on the road across the country can seem to bring along many trials that a team wouldn’t face at home. However, for junior Kaysie Hermsdorf and the Wildcats, that wasn’t the case.
“What helps me focus when traveling is the end result,” Hermsdorf said. “I want to prove to all the other big schools we play that Abilene Christian tennis has what it takes to take on whatever the competition is.”
The Wildcats faced tough competition as teams such as Indiana, Harvard, Maruqette, and Oregon were competing in the tournament. The Wildcats won a combined seven matches in singles and doubles on the first day.
Wins in singles were contributed by freshmen Whitney Williams, Lucile Pothier, Carli Knezevich, and juniors Nada Marjanovic, and Hermsdorf. For doubles, sophomore Erin Walker teamed with Williams for a 8-4 win over Marquette as senior Brittney Reed and Hermsdorf defeated Marquette 8-3.
The Wildcats didn’t let down as the team carried its victories over into the next day of competition. During the second day, Pothier and Hermsdorf each won three times. In singles, Hermsdorf and Pothier each won as well as Marjanovic. Hermsdorf was named the Southland Conference’s player of the week for her three wins over the weekend.
Carrying that win over into doubles, Hermsdorf and Reed won two matches as Pothier and Knezevich also won two matches.
In the final day of competition at the Indiana Invitational, ACU won five of eight doubles matches, including three victories of 8-4 against the Oregon Ducks.
“We dominated in doubles against Oregon, winning all of the doubles against them,” Hermsdorf said. “Also had a lot of good singles wins against Indiana University. This semester the team came back ready to bring the heat to the other teams. We have improved our doubles play by being more aggressive at the net and also in singles.”
Throughout all of the successes from the weekend tournament, the team showed a lot of improvement and set the bar high for the season. Hermsdorf was awarded the Southland Conference’s Player of the Week as she went undefeated all weekend.
“From last season I think I have improved by becoming more consistent and just mentally smarter,” Hermsdorf said. “I focus on making smarter shot selections and finding different strategies to beat each opponent.”
The Wildcats will continue its season at home on January 31 as the team will play in the ACU Indoor Invitational.
