Although the season started in the middle of January, the Eastern Michigan University women’s tennis team has played 12 matches and has 11 matches to go in the season.
The team has won four matches and has been defeated eight times, conquering Oakland, Green Bay, Detroit and Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Eagles completely shut out Oakland, Detroit and Green Bay by a score of 7-0.
Following the Detroit game, coach Ryan Ray said, “It was great to see us convert on all the matches.”
The team is comprised of seven women, all from different countries. Ankita Bhatia, Georgia de’Lisle-Tarr, Daphne Friedrichs, Nino Mebuke, Marcela Rivero, Mariya Toncheva and Miriam Westerink have formed a close team and have been compatible for doubles as well. There are three seniors on the team, two sophomores, and two freshmen.
Bhatia has an overall singles record of 13-9. Rivero’s singles record is 12-12, and Mebuke’s singles record is 10-6. As a team, the women have a singles winning percentage of 51.
For doubles teams, Mebuke and Westerink have the most wins, nine, and have eight loses. De’Lisle-Tarr and Toncheva have seven wins and five loses as a team. The whole team has won 52 percent of their doubles matches.
De’Lisle-Tarr has an overall record of 11-7 in her doubles teams. Mebuke has a 10-8 record, and Westerink has a 10-9 record.
“Our doubles play is decent,” Ray said. “We got some outdoor experience; hopefully it will assist us later in the conference season.”
Right now, the team is on a three-game losing streak. They have a chance to break that streak, however, when they travel away to take on West Virginia Mountaineers at 1 p.m. on March 16.
The Eagles have a good chance of beating the Mountaineers, since the team has a 3-11 record this season. The Mountaineers still have two more matches before they take on the Eagles.
As Ray said earlier in the year, “We will aim for better results every time we step on the court.”
The Eagles can pull off a victory in their next match against West Virginia, but both singles and doubles teams will have to work hard to crush the Mountaineers.
