The men’s and women’s tennis teams went to Shepherdstown, West Virginia to compete against Shepherd University Oct. 10. The women’s team won with a 6-3 in singles and 2-of-3 doubles and the men lost with a 9-0.
Senior Taylor Helsel and first year Lenea Riehl helped the women’s team when they played Shepherd’s No. 1 doubles and won with sets 7-2 and 8-1.
“Lenea and I played really well together,” Helsel said. “Becoming close friends right off the bat in the fall has helped a lot with our chemistry on the court. We are still learning each other’s tennis game, but we are both so compatible with our playing styles and with our personalities.”
After Helsel and Riehl scored for their team, other doubles senior Madison McCall and junior Sam Provak added to the team score with two sets of 8-6 for the win.
Following these, Elizabethtown College won the bottom four flights in singles. McCall neared her 100th win by ending up just nine away, with sets 6-3 and 7-5.
Provak ended up with two sets of 6-2, sophomore Meghan Chemidlin with a 6-1 and a 7-5 and first-year Breanna Titi with sets 6-2 and 6-1.
The men’s team nearly scored in No. 2 doubles with senior Nathan Dowling and sophomore Nick Strobel but lost the set with a 5-8.
Following, No. 3 doubles senior Matthew Hornbaker and first-year Tristan Boheim received a 4-8 against the Rams.
“The tennis match was a challenging one to say the least,” Boheim said. “We expected so great competition going into this and knowing we were playing a D2 university.” Not to mention, there was “extreme wind and harsh sunlight on the far side of the whole match.”
Despite playing doubles for the first time together, Boheim believes he and Hornbaker “worked well together.”
This match for both the men’s and women’s teams concludes the fall season. Helsel is optimistic about the spring season because the upperclassmen are tougher from last season and the four first-years seem promising.
“Lenea and Brianna will definitely have a great career in the spring and Courtney and Sarah will be making a debut in the future,” Helsel said.
Boheim is on the same page as Helsel and looking forward to more matches. “With practices and in the fall and workouts in the winter, we will be more than ready to face the challenges in the spring,” Boheim said.
