Unfinished matches have been the bane of the Tennessee women’s tennis team’s season so far.
Last week against the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs, the Vols had three players drop their matches to Bulldog players, which ultimately led to a loss.
However, there were three other matches going on at the time of the match being called, and, in each one, the Vols had a player coming back or preparing to make a comeback.
Head coach Alison Ojeda seems optimistic about this weekend despite last week’s loss and feels a comeback and strong finish to the end of the regular season is in the works.
Ojeda was excited to see the amount of grit the women showed against Georgia last week, where Tennessee’s Eve Repic among many others pushed her match into a tiebreaker against No. 8 Elena Christofi before Georgia clinched.
“Singles all across the board was extremely close, they’re (Georgia) a team that can win a national championship, and for us to be that close in every single singles match, with one of our players out, is huge,” Ojeda said.
This weekend, the Vols are set to take on their next SEC opponents and bounce back.
No. 24 Tennessee (15-8, 2-7 SEC) will take up against No. 46 Missouri Friday, April 7, and No. 19 Arkansas Sunday, April 9. These matches will be the second to last matches until the end of the regular season.
In terms of who to watch this weekend, the duo of Saddie Hammond and Gabby Schuck will provide a key matchup.
“A duo in terms of doubles, I think it’s hard not to keep an eye on Sadie and Gabby, but, at the same time, our freshman are relentless right now,” Ojeda said.
The freshmen Ojeda spoke off consist of Ariadna Riley, Schuck and Johanna Silva, and the trio has been a solid source of skill for the Vols this season. The three form a combined record of 38-31 in singles matchups and 40-36 in doubles matches.
But the freshman aren’t the only ones succeeding on the court. For the seniors on the team, Eve Repic and Brittany Lindl, the end of the regular season doesn’t seem to shape their attitude or affect their confidence going into the final matches here at UT.
Lindl has a career record of 59-48 in singles and 34-51 in doubles while Repic is 72-57 in singles matches and 58-57 in doubles matches.
With the season winding down, Lindl is confident that a win is imminent and that Tennessee can finish strong with the remaining schedule they have.
“As seniors, we want to make this season really special but, we have treated every match the same way, and it will pay off at the end of the season,” Lindl said. “Every match you get to play at Tennessee is special. We’ve progressed as we’ve gone on, and been improving on things since the start.
“We just kind of keep building off that momentum.”
