04/04/08
The Baker tennis team has been successful after it played three matches in five days between last Friday and Tuesday.
The latest game was a home match against conference opponent William Jewell College.
“I am extremely impressed with both teams, playing in non-perfect conditions,” coach Rick Walsh said.
The teams have yet to play a match with the temperature warmer than 50 degrees.
The men’s team won the match against William Jewell 8-1. The doubles team of senior Michael Angarita and freshman Bozo Zaputovic was the only loss of the day in a tiebreaker 9-8. The other two doubles teams won, with junior Hunter Hollarn and sophomore Ricardo Palm winning 8-1, and junior Trevor Hedberg and freshman Andrew Posch winning 8-3. All six players won their singles matches in two sets. The men are undefeated in the conference at 2-0 and are 4-2 overall.
The women were unable to come back from an early deficit and fell to William Jewell 6-3. The Wildcats lost their first two doubles matches, with seniors Melissa Shank and Jamie Lawrenz losing 8-3 against the William Jewell team that is the top team in the conference. Senior Courtney Struble and sophomore Taylor Bonar also lost 8-2.
Freshmen Allie Stephens and Molly Flanigan won the only doubles match for Baker, 8-1. Bonar and Flanigan were the only two singles winners and both won in two sets and also have won their last three singles matches.
Angarita was excited to play against his former team, the University of Illinois-Springfield, where he played before transferring to Baker. All three doubles teams won against UIS, and Angarita was the only player to lose his singles match. So far, Zaputovic has the best overall singles record at 6-0. Hollarn and Posch are both 5-1, Palm is 4-2, and Angarita and Hedberg are both 3-3.
Last Friday, the men’s team faced McKendree University, while the women faced Evangel University. The men lost a close match to McKendree, 5-4. Palm and Angarita was the only doubles team to win and Zaputovic, Hollarn and Posch were the winners in the singles matches. Palm became ill and had to forfeit his match, which was the difference in the match.
The women were more successful winning 7-2 over Evangel. Lawrenz and Shank won 8-2, and Flanigan and Bonar won 8-6 in their doubles matches, and Lawrenz, Shank, Stephens, Bonar and Flanigan all won singles matches.
Playing multiple games in a short period of time is hard on athletes no matter what the sport and is true in an active sport such as tennis.
“We are doing well with it,” Bonar said. “The weather is getting warmer, we are able to practice more, and everyone is playing well.”
When playing several matches in a short period of time, injuries are always a factor.
“We don’t have the luck of subbing for injuries,” Hedberg said. “One or two injuries could kill us.”
Walsh will once again have a part-time position with the university as coach next year, but the athletic department is working on making Walsh a full-time member of the university, which he also would like. That would allow him to coach and to teach. Walsh said having a physical presence on campus is important, especially for communication purposes and would help with recruiting.