Author: Max Weidman
The start of the Men’s Tennis Team season was thwarted by bad weather and dampened spirits. Before spring break, the team dealt with two match cancellations and an unimpressive record.
With their recent victory (winning all but one match) over George Fox this past Saturday and another over Lewis and Clark on Monday, the team’s record stands-without factoring in Tuesday’s match against Wis.-Oshkosh-at 5-6. The Tigers look like they’ve found a fresh set of legs.
Considering the program’s shaky history with coaches (three new ones in as many years), these kinds of victories and verve aren’t so easy to come by.
“It’s been pretty tough adjusting to a new coach every year,” Captain Daniel Ikuta (senior) said. New coaches have to be schooled on protocol, which means a captain’s attention gets divided between his team and acquainting the coach with the Athletic Department and general Oxy policy.
Even so, both Ikuta and other team members seem optimistic about Coach Alberto Martin. Mike Kuhn (junior) spoke highly of his apparent dedication. The team agreed that Martin lacked flaws of past coaches, including a trend of living far away from campus.
Evening practices, held three times a week, mean players partially dodge the impending heat swell. Victor Sowers (sophomore) seemed somewhat worried that this might effect play during matches, which often begin much earlier than the time scheduled for practice.
The team consists of eight dedicated men, having suffered one loss from injury. Such a small number of players means doubled responsibility for many: some men have to play both in the singles and doubles brackets during matches. Beyond the difficulties of fatigue and endurance, this means players have to spend practices honing two distinct sets of skills.
“The workouts are long; strategy shifts between the two styles of play and necessitates more time to get prepared,” Kuhn said, who plays both number one doubles and singles.
But Martin has anticipated some of these difficulties and sculpted practices to be as effective as possible: Mondays and Tuesdays are long workouts with heavy conditioning, and then practices taper off, ending with a casual hit on Thursdays.
While there is only one first-year on the team, the fact that Martin lives and coaches nearby is beneficial. As Ikuta said, this means he has “a lot of access to top juniors in the area.” The future of the team, in both the short and long run, is beginning to seem a bit brighter.
The Men’s Team faces one of its biggest matches of the season this Saturday, when they play rivals Pomona-Pitzer at 2 p.m. at Oxy. To get fans to their games, the men of the team were quick to note that while they don’t wear cute skirts, they can grunt with the best of them.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
