Doug Slovenkay
Contributing Writer
On Friday, March 1, the Wooster women’s tennis team took on Denison University, the 20th-ranked team nationally in Division III, for their first in-conference match of the season. The Scots entered the match with a 1-5 record, hoping to gain some momentum against a conference foe.
The match commenced with doubles play, which quickly proved challenging for the Scots. In the No. 1 flight, the team of Otilia Oita ’24 and Janaki Jagannathan ’25 came up short to Denison’s Dasha Chistyakova and Caroline Lopez, ultimately falling 8-2. Abby Aitken ’24 and Abby Williams ’26 took the court for the Scots in the No. 2 flight. Despite a fierce battle, the duo was unable to put Wooster in the win column, with the Big Red prevailing 8-3.
Singles play was more of the same as Denison continued to stack up victories. However, the Scots had flashes of success to build upon later. Notably, Oita and Williams both picked up set wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 flights, respectively. Williams took on Denison’s Lopez, who previously defeated the Scots in doubles flight No. 1. However, Williams seemed determined for a taste of revenge, embarking on a smoking hot start and downing Lopez 6-1 in set one. Lopez ultimately battled back in set two with a hard-fought 6-4 victory.
Oita also attempted to get even with Denison’s Christyakova. Initially, Christyakova appeared poised to carry onward with her success, besting Oita 6-4 in set one. Oita responded with an emphatic 6-2 victory in set two to rally from behind and force a third set. In the end, both athletes ultimately came up short in their super-tiebreaker third set, giving the Big Red nail-biting victories in both matchups.
The Scots did not have much luck avenging these defeats as singles play wore on. In the No. 2 flight, Jagannathan fell 6-1 in both of her sets to Caroline Kittle of Denison, who previously defeated the Scots’ doubles team of Aitken and Williams. Aitken met a similar fate in the No. 4 flight to the tune of a 6-1 defeat in set one and a 6-2 defeat in set two. Margaret Steward ’26 was unable to right the ship in the No. 5 flight against Denison’s Elizabeth Hoo, who prevailed 6-0 in set one and 6-1 in set two.
Despite the end result not quite falling in their favor, the Scots left the match with unwavering spirits and heads held high. “I loved the energy we brought to the match despite being low on numbers,” Jagannathan said of the positives the team took from the match. “Having a small team, we have all gotten very close and consistently support each other. Overall, I like the progress we are making and believe we will keep getting better as the season progresses.”
Steward echoed these sentiments, saying, “I think that our team is overall very positive, and even when we lose our matches we’re still cheering and supporting each other.” Steward alluded to the quality of their opponent as the root cause of the team’s struggles.
“Denison is a very talented team and we just didn’t have the skill set to beat them,” Steward said. “However, everyone played well despite the scores so it was still worthwhile!”
Ultimately, the Scots fell 9-0, placing them at 1-6 on the season and 0-1 in NCAC play. For the Big Red, this result puts them into the win column on the year at 1-4 (1-0 NCAC).
Wooster will look to build some positive momentum next week as they head to Hilton Head, South Carolina where they will play four matches.
