Both Grinnell tennis teams have achieved high Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings this season with women’s tennis at 27th and men’s at 23rd, the highest in men’s tennis history as of April 9. Members of both teams said they have found success from increased practice in competitive conditions and valuing team energy.
Over spring break, both the men and women’s teams beat highly ranked colleges, with the women’s team winning against 37th Hope College and 33rd University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the men’s team winning against 27th Christopher Newport University, which sat 15 places above Grinnell at the time.
Garvin Murray `29, a member of the men’s tennis team, said the win against Christopher Newport was a huge upset. “I think that was the highest ranking that we have beaten so far in Grinnell men’s tennis history,” he said. Lucas Willett `26 is currently ranked 17th regionally.
Women’s tennis holds a national ranking of 27th, and women’s tennis player Pari Chavan `27 has also climbed the regional rankings, being ranked 18th in Regional Singles for the first week of April. As of April 9, Chavan has dropped from the rankings, while Paige Sargent `27 has reached 16th. Chavan said they didn’t expect this but was happy to see her work pay off.
Chavan mentioned that even though their team’s rank isn’t as high as last season, when they were ranked 25th, they’re still proud of the results. “Compared to last season, we’re a bit lower on the rankings. But taking into account that we’re playing highly ranked teams this season, I think that’s fair,” she said.
Chavan also said seniors’ graduations have affected things. “Especially with having graduated a lot of our lineup last year, I think things have changed. But regardless, I think we’re putting our best team effort in and we’re getting the results we want,” she said. Since last season, five members of the team graduated, including Lily Perrin `25 who holds the second-most victories in program history.
Men and Women’s Tennis Head Coach and Assistant Professor Zachary Hasenyager said that practices have included a lot more competition based training. He mentioned focusing less on the technical aspects of tennis, and instead practicing under competition conditions.
Tennis practice this year has focused on the mental aspect of the game. “As many athletes know, when you get out in the world of competition where the pressure is mounting and everything is higher stakes, it can be difficult to perform at your peak level. So the more things we can do just to kind of reckon with that, practice that and be comfortable with that,” Hasenyager said.
Chavan said she found the effort has positively affected the team. “I think the work that the coaches have put in for us in building this program and bringing us together as a community, and just building the team spirit and the bonds that we need to get these wins,” she said.
Both Chavan and Murray mentioned the tennis teams have benefited from and valued building community. “The biggest thing here at our tennis teams, but also in Grinnell, is just building that sense of community with each other, building off of our energy, but also knowing that, ‘hey, we’re all in this together,’” Murray said.
