Grinnell women’s tennis faced off against Lawrence University at 9 a.m. and Ripon College at 3 p.m. — both on its home courts and both 7-0 sweeps. Part of the team played at Grinnell on Saturday, Sept. 13, while a few other members of the team entered the Gustavus Adolphus College Invitational.
In their matchup against Lawrence at the beginning of the day, energy was high and the team began their dominance. The first seed doubles match ended quickly, as the set ended 6-3 for Grinnell. The longest doubles match — ending notably later than the other two — was the second seed doubles team, Addie Persian `27 and Kayla Surpless `28. It went to a tiebreak, which itself was close, and the match ended 7-6 for Grinnell.
Tannishtha Mukherjee `26 had an exciting and tense singles match against Lawrence. There were many line disputes during the close match. However, the match ended 6-2, 6-4 for Mukherjee.
In their second round of the day against Ripon, the team seemed warmed up and ready to go despite the mounting heat and humidity. None of the matches were quite as close — Grinnell won handily in every match. Eliana Martin `29 beat her singles opponent in straight sets.
The matches, which marked the start of their Midwest Conference play, took place on a day that was nothing short of scalding. The sun was bright and the humidity was high, but these conditions couldn’t dull the team’s sparkle. They continually cheered each other on, specifically naming players who seemed to be struggling or simply shouting “Let’s go Pios!”, short for Pioneers. The positivity from the team affected everyone — Persian even congratulated her first singles opponent of the day on a good shot.
There were around 25 spectators, which Mukherjee said was a good turnout, and the team felt grateful for the support. The spectators included friends and family members of the team, professors and several dogs and babies.
Mukherjee, team captain, said that she is excited for the rest of the season. “I think we had a really positive preseason, and our team is feeling really optimistic,” she said.
Mukherjee also said that she’s excited to support the freshman on the team as captain, and that one of her favorite parts of the day was watching some of the freshman players win. Martin said, “I think things went well. I was pretty nervous at first, but definitely the energy from my teammates really helped ease some of my nerves.”
Nina Perkins `28 discussed her mindset going into her second year on the team, stating that her confidence is much higher this time around.
“I guess I’m hitting a much higher quality, consistent game,” she said, elaborating that her favorite part of her matches was hitting midcourt shots–which she said was out of the ordinary for her and her serves.
“We have a lot of really good players, and everyone’s working really hard, like the energy. I feel like we’re starting off really strong, I think we’ll continue and keep this momentum,” Martin said.
Grinnell entered two singles players and two doubles teams in the Gustavus Adolphus Invitational, both of which went undefeated. The team will continue their season at the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) Fall Regional/Midwest Invite beginning Friday, Sept. 19th.
