The University of Tampa women’s tennis team suffered a 9-0 defeat to end their regular season against No. 2 ranked Barry University. The team finished the season 14-5 with all five losses coming against Sunshine State Conference opponents.
Two days prior to the Barry match, the team easily handled SSC member Eckerd College, winning all nine games. Yet despite the momentum, the team knew beating Barry would be a daunting task.The players remained optimistic though.
“I always play better against better competition,” said freshman Lindsay Nochowicz. “They’re the ones ranked No. 2 in the nation so there’s no pressure on us.”
Team Captain Lauren Hewett is still confident in the team.
“When every match is tough like it has been this year, it’s just nice to be ranked up there with [Barry],” Hewett said. “But we’re still confident we can beat anybody.”
Though the score was lopsided in the end, the match was much tighter than the end result suggested. Two of the three doubles matches went to tiebreaker, with each team tied at five sets and could have gone either way. Unfortunately for the Spartans, Barry took both in the end.
”Every match we play is tough,” said Head Coach Al DuFaux. “But the difference between the top one and two teams in the nation and the 14th and above is pretty big,” he continued.
Tampa is currently ranked No. 14 in the nation which is the highest ranking the program has ever achieved. Even more impressive, however, is that of the nine schools in the SSC, eight are ranked in the top 20 nationwide
“This is the best season we’ve had in a couple years,” said Hewett. “It’s nice to finally get some recognition.”
Upcoming for the Spartans is a rigorous SSC tournament followed by the NCAA Tournament shortly after. The Spartans will likely represent the South region in the tourney along with seven other teams, another six of which will probably come from the SSC.
“It’ll be like playing two conference tournaments,” laughed DuFaux.
The depth of the team has been paramount to the team’s accomplishments this season and will need to remain consistent to achieve conference and NCAA tournament success.
“Our one and two doubles teams have the potential to beat anyone in the nation,” said Coach DuFaux. “And, Thashia Garcia has the potential to beat anyone in the nation as well,” he continued.
Garcia, ranked 40th in the nation among singles players, has an 11-5 record against opponent’s top players. Moreover, the team’s one and two doubles teams Coach DuFaux mentioned have a combined record of 33-7 with no team losing more than four games all season.
The conference tournament starts Thursday April 18 in Boca Raton.