BY MICHEAL ABLER, STAFF WRITER
As far as the women’s tennis team and their Head Coach, Stephen Curtis, are concerned, the future looks bright as their fall season comes to an end.
Their season concluded Oct. 9 with the completion of the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational, where they competed against 10 other programs.
In three segments of doubles matches, which were split into flights of A, B and C, the Patriots struggled but won one of the eight matches in which they participated.
The winners of the doubles for Mason were Morgan Yang and Nicole Haigwood, who won the single-set match 6-1.
There were also five segments of single matches — again split into flights of A through F — which were a bit more successful, with Mason winning six matches.
“The teams we had to face in this tournament are tough to beat and we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for them,” Coach Curtis said. “This tournament had a lot of powerful teams so it was a good way of seeing how we stack up against stiff competition.”
Over the course of this season, which included the Mason Invitational Mock Dual, the UMW Fall Kickoff Classic and the Loyola Invitational, Curtis believes he has seen the team make some marked improvements.
“We’re a young team,” he said, “but we’re also advancing very quickly, and I’m very pleased with that.”
The Patriots defeated Howard University 8-2 and Christopher Newport 5-4 during the Mason Invitational, and then won 11 out of 18 singles matches, as well as going undefeated in doubles at the UMW Fall Kickoff Classic.
Curtis also said that they have “room for improvement, but also a lot of potential.”
Their potential will be boosted by the veterans on the active roster, as well as Curtis’ plan to recruit in the upcoming offseason. “One of my star players will [also] be back in the spring from studying abroad,” Curtis said.
Sydney Green corroborated Curtis’ observation of improvement within her, saying, “I think I’m getting past those growing pains and I’m learning more and more about how I can eliminate these mistakes that hurt us in [the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational].”
But Green also said that their most potent weapon, and key for capitalizing on their improvement, is the team’s passion for the game.
“We work hard every day during practice and the games,” she said. “We may be young, but we’re very driven to improve and win games.”
Their “bonding as a family unit as a team and pushing each other harder,” Haigwood said, has helped them become “more dangerous.”
The Patriots hosted a Campus Showdown event Oct. 22 and 23, and will also host an Alumni event Oct. 29, neither of which are a part of their main season.
Their spring tournament schedule is yet to be released.
