After six consecutive wins, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s tennis team finished their regular season on April 28.
The last match took place in Northfield, Minnesota, where the women played Carleton College and lost 8-1. Sophomore Laurel Krebsbach scored the only point for Gustavus at No. 1 singles.
After Wednesday’s match, the Gusties dropped to 12-7 overall, and 8-2 in the MIAC.
The tennis team will take part in the MIAC Playoffs, which will be held in St. Peter on Friday, May 3-4, 2013.
“We have proven through close matches with both the number one seed (Saint Catherine University) and the number two seed (Carleton College) that we are fighters and will challenge them with our endless effort,” Captain Mallory Shellum said
After the last few years of great competition, the team has once again proven they are a force to be reckoned with.
“After graduating around six seniors that all played in the varsity line-up, no one projected us to do anything of value in the MIAC. Now, we enter the playoff tournament in the third seed,” Sophomore Annie Mahoney said.
The women have definitely proven everyone wrong. After a season filled with hard work and progress, the women will enter the playoffs with only two MIAC losses.
“We all play for each other. Our challenge this year was still being recognized as one of the toughest teams in the conference, especially after we graduated so many seniors,” Shellum said.
In addition to their standing in the playoffs this season, the team managed to receive some athlete of the week honors. The awards were given to Sophomore Laurel Krebsbach and Senior Captain Heather Annis.
The team consists of many young athletes this year. In order to keep the team’s competitive edge, the women had to learn to rely on each other.
“We are a really tight knit team this year, even though we have more First-years than all three other years combined,” Mahoney said.
Considering how many underclassmen are on the team, it is remarkable how the regular season has ended up.
“This year we have a young team which means learning to come together and work as a team,” Shellum said.
The team overcame many challenges this season to get to where they are now. With such a different group of players, changes were made in the line up, both in doubles and singles. Some players even had to switch double partners.
“We’ve had to adjust quickly but definitely have the strongest line-up possible at this point,” Annis said.
Team members believe that without their great coaching staff, they wouldn’t have been nearly as successful. They say the coaches have supported the women throughout the season in many beneficial ways.
“Jon Carlson is an exceptional coach. He never treated us any differently than he did his championship teams. He never looked at us as less than the best team in the MIAC, and soon enough we viewed ourselves in the same light,” Mahoney said.