AFTER STRONGEST START SINCE 2008, THE TEAM CONTINUES TO GROW—

Last year Wofford’s Women’s Tennis team fell to Furman in the second round of the Southern Conference tournament after defeating Davidson in the first round. The Terriers completed their season with a 6-16 record overall and a 1-8 record in conference play.

This year, the team had their strongest start since 2008 after achieving a four-match winning streak and a record of 4-2 overall. Head Coach Krissy Hall sees the team beginning at a very high level. “I see us developing perfectly through this first month of the season,” Hall says.

Despite Davidson breaking the Terriers’ winning streak, Hall sees the team continuing to grow.

“I saw us doing the right things, and if you can do what you do in practice and transfer that to a match, eventually you’re going to see the results that you want. We didn’t get the win [at Davidson], but I really feel like we got better.”

Last year’s Southern Conference Champion, Elon, has left the conference, and Mercer and ETSU have joined the conference. Hall says that this transition is an exciting time for the team and the conference as a whole.

“It’s kind of wide open right now. There’s not a favorite going in,” Hall says. “It’s really exciting to see how we’re going to push each other as a conference, and I think we’re all going to make each other better.”

This year, the women’s team is particularly young with just one senior, Audrey Coventry, and one junior, Mareli Sanchez. Hall believes that the young age level is a positive contributor to the team dynamic.

“I think being a young team is awesome. There’s so much potential in these women, and I really think they’re all just so excited to be at Wofford. The excitement level and the energy level has been great so far, and I attribute that to the younger players and the upperclassmen as well. If the younger girls don’t bring that excitement level in, then the dynamic is not the same.”

Coventry also sees benefits in having a young team. “You would expect the only senior to feel a lot of pressure to step up, but the whole team is really mature and has a lot of leadership and motivation,” Coventry adds.

“Sometimes they might look to me for example, but I look to them for an example to follow as well.”

Concerning goals for the season, Hall explains the team’s decision to not set any outcome goals.

“We are not going to say, ‘we want to beat this team’ or ‘we want to finish in this place in the conference.’ We are going to take care of what we need to take care of on the preparation side and not focus so much on who we are playing.”

Coventry adds how the choice to not set outcome goals can benefit the team. “I feel like we’re not under as much pressure if we don’t set outcome goals,” the senior says. “If we go in with expectations of how many matches we should win, we’re going to go into those matches feeling really nervous, and that never does any good. So now we just need to focus on being positive and the results will come.”

Hall says that the team has already shown a lot of growth and believes that the team can have great success this year.

“I think the biggest change I have seen so far is in our mental training. All of these girls have so much talent, and it’s just them realizing that they can compete with anyone if they have the right mindset.”

—Tanner Kaplan