Last Wednesday, the Lawrence women’s tennis team traveled to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to challenge the Titans. After a tough day, the Vikings were defeated 0-9.
The Vikings put up a good fight in the doubles competition. At No. 1 doubles, sophomores Christina Schaupp and Hannah Geoffrey managed to take three games from UW Oshkosh’s Preslee Nolte and Megan Etten. In the No. 3 doubles competition, the Vikings’ sophomores Tess Vogel and Allison Juda played hard, but came up short to end the game 5-8. The No. 2 doubles competition was neck and neck, but UW Oshkosh managed to pull out a 9-7 victory over Lawrence’s juniors Gayatri Malhotra and Polly Dalton.
The singles competition was tough, but the Vikings played hard in the face of great competitors and unfavorable weather conditions. Christina Schaupp was defeated 3-6, 2-6 in the No.1 singles competition. Gayatri Malhotra also fell to UW Oshkosh’s Morgan Counts with a respectable 2-6, 3-6 finish. Hannah Geoffrey played a close first set against UW Oshkosh’s Megan Etten at No. 3 singles. Geoffrey fought hard but was defeated 5-7 in the first set and dropped the next set 2-6. Polly Dalton also played a tough first set at No. 4 singles, coming up just short to lose 4-6 in the first set and losing 1-6 in the second set. At No. 5 singles, Lawrence’s sophomore Melissa Heeren took two games from her competitor in the first set and one in the second, and Tess Vogel at No. 6 singles took three games from UW Oshkosh’s Llora Waldman in each set.
When asked to comment on the performance of the Lawrence women’s tennis team at UW Oshkosh, Christina Schaupp noted, “I think the team played well against UW Oshkosh. We were dealing with very strong winds so conditions weren’t favorable, but we all played through it and did our best. The UW school was great competition for us and we all put up a good fight.”
Schaupp was recently promoted to the No. 1 spot on the team as a sophomore after a couple of lineup changes. She has really stepped up and played well, but there are still aspects of her game that she would like to improve. She said, “Personally, I’m working on consistency with my backhand right now. I’ve always favored my forehand, but now I’m trying to even the two out.”
With more conference matches coming up so soon, Schaupp is very optimistic about the future of the Vikings women’s tennis team stating, “I’m feeling really good about our upcoming conference matches. We have had a few changes to our lineup recently and it took some adjusting, but I really feel like we are coming together as a team to embrace the changes and come out strong in conference.”
The women’s tennis team will play two conference matches this Saturday at home. Come out and support these ladies as they face the Monmouth Fighting Scots at 8 a.m. and the Cornell College Rams at 11 a.m. on the Lawrence courts.