Bobby Ramkissoon
Staff Writer
As the tennis legend Billie Jean King once said, “losing a tennis match isn’t a failure, it’s research.” Last Saturday, the Wooster women’s tennis team suffered a 6-3 defeat to Otterbein University—requiring them to exceed even the expectations of America’s premier college for undergraduate research.
In doubles play, only the team of Abby Aitken ’24 and Katie Materick ’23, who competed in the third doubles match, were able to clinch a victory, winning by a score of 8-6. Unfortunately for Wooster, Otilia Oita ’24 and Kim Nguyen ’24, fell 8-1 in the first match, while Ishika Gupta ’23 and Janaki Jagannathan ’25 found themselves on the wrong side of the 8-6 split in the second match.
On the bright side, Jagannathan and Nguyen both bounced back from their losses in doubles by winning their individual matches. In these matches, Jagannathan and Nguyen demonstrated their individual prowess. Jagannathan captured a victory in the third individual match by winning in two sets by scores of 6-1 and 7-5. Although Nguyen needed an additional set, she was able to secure the win in her individual match (6-2, 1-6, 6-1). Unfortunately, Wooster did not go undefeated in the singles matches. Aitken fell in a three-set match, losing the first set 6-2, winning the second set 6-4, and losing the third and final set by a score of 6-3. Oita lost in two sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-0, and Gupta fell in her individual match in two sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-2.
Although Wooster was unable to come away with the victory in last Saturday’s match, the Fighting Scots are optimistic about their next match on Saturday, Sept. 18, when they will be hosting their first match of the season against Baldwin Wallace. Aitken said that, “even though the scores didn’t necessarily fall our way against Otterbein, we fought really hard, and I think we should bring that fight when we play Baldwin Wallace.”
Gupta shared a similar sentiment, “Our result against Otterbein was not as we hoped, but I feel our entire team played really hard and gave it their all. We will definitely be working on our doubles skills and tactics. I also feel that we were able to fight back after being a few games down but were not able to convert those into a win, so we hope that our match against Baldwin Wallace is in our favor.”
When asked what the team could do to improve, Aitkens added that, “In tight matches, it’s great to have the whole team cheering for you, so supporting each other during the match will always be beneficial. No matter what, I know we will play hard and show the opposing team what it means to be a Fighting Scot!”
The Scots’ next match will take place on Saturday, Sept. 18 at home against Baldwin Wallace.
