February is almost over, winter is showing signs of ending and March Madness is just around the corner. If you don’t like basketball, there are other sports to see here at Eastern Michigan University.
Tennis is a sport you don’t often hear much about, but the EMU women’s tennis team has had a respectable season so far. Of the nine games played since coming back to the court after Christmas, the team has won four. That’s not perfect by anyone’s standards, but the team, coached by Ryan Ray, still has a fighting chance.
Ankita Bhatia is one of the key players for the Eagles. Bhatia was ranked No. 456 out of 1,000 of the Junior World Rankings of professional doubles, according to the International Tennis Federation and the Women’s Tennis Association.
Zsofia Biro is a junior who joined the team this season. She currently has a record of 3-5 in singles matches and 2-7 in doubles play.
Nino Mebuke, a junior from Tbilisi, Ga., was 7-8 in singles and 8-6 in doubles in the fall season.
Klara Supejova, a freshman from Prague in the Czech Republic, has gone 17-4 in singles and 12-9 in doubles to date, making her, arguably, the most impressive member of the team so far this season.
Saturday’s upcoming match will be against the University of Dayton Flyers at the Chippewa Club. This is the only time Dayton will be taking on EMU.
Dayton has lost seven of the 12 games it’s played this season. And while the team won the last game against Chicago State, that was only after Dayton lost four games in a row, all by at least three points. The Flyers are far from unbeatable.
That being said, Dayton also has a respectable lineup.
Dayton may cause some problems with players like Carly Peck, a Dayton freshman who was voted most improved in high school during the 2008 season and MVP from 2010-2011 according to daytonflyers.com.
Katherine Boeckman, also a freshman, was team captain of her high school team in 2011 and a nominee for the Rae Burick Women in Sports Award.
While the road this season has not been without its bumps, the tennis team does have a lot going for it.
The Saturday match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Check out www.easternecho.com/sports for the results and be sure to check out the rest of the website for stories about other EMU teams.
