The Muhlenberg women’s tennis team traveled to Dickinson College this weekend. While they were unable to secure their first conference win, that did not deter team spirit, as they are looking forward to competing in the rest of their season. Although the women’s team lost 8-1, they are excited for the last few weeks of the season, which includes all their remaining conference matchups against teams such as Haverford College on Apr. 13 and Bryn Mawr College on Apr. 19.
Caroline Armknecht ‘22, who serves as a co-captain, spoke about her experience playing at Dickinson this weekend. Armknecht spoke about her strategy going into the match, saying, “The Centennial Conference has some really great tennis players, so I tell myself to settle into and enjoy the battle each time I walk onto the court. I take each game one point at a time and try to keep my balls high, deep and heavy. At the end of the day, when a match is competitive between two players, whoever wins really just wanted the match more and pushed themselves, which I did in my singles. It’s my senior year, and I want to rack up as many wins as I can before I graduate!”
Malin Hermanson ’23 echoed a similar sentiment when talking about her gameplan going into her match. She said, “My strategy going into the match was to hit one more ball. I want the opponent to mess up before I do!”
Armknecht reflected on some of the successes of the matchup, although the team did not perform as well as she would have liked overall. “My opponent and I had some pretty long points, so whenever I push myself to grind out a long point and end up winning it, that’s a great feeling. Once I broke my opponent’s serve in the second set at 1-2, it fired me up to stay focused, finish strong and not lose any more games from that point on,” she said.
Rose Glantz ’22, who is the team’s other co-captain, chimed in as well. “The weather was definitely challenging, as the courts were wet for warmups with the rain on and off. They eventually dried up, and it turned out to be a nice day, but it wasn’t ideal,” Glantz said.
Hermanson continued to speak about her outlook on the rest of the season saying, “We’re getting into conference play, so the season looks like it’s going to get pretty tough from here on out, but I’m excited to compete.”
While the team had many individual successes, there were also some spots where members of the team had struggled more than they would have liked. Armknecht said, “Coming off the court from doubles was a real challenge because I definitely did not play my best, but I was able to put that behind me and pivot to focus on doing my best in my singles match. The weather was a bit of a challenge too because it was raining during the start of warm-ups, which threw me, and I didn’t feel like I was able to get into a groove for doubles.”
Glantz reflected on some of her successes during the match. She said, “My favorite point was when I hit a winner down the line in the first set of my singles match.”
The women’s team is excited for the rest of the season. Armknecht said, “We have three more weeks of our season and five more matches, three of which are on our home courts. Some of them are pretty difficult teams ([John] Hopkins and Swat [Swarthmore]), but I think our matches with Bryn Mawr and Haverford will be competitive. As a team we will keep working hard in practice and giving our 100% at matches.”
Glantz echoed familiar hopes, “I’m excited for the rest of my last tennis season at Muhlenberg and to be on the courts with my teammates. I’m also really looking forward to doubles with my amazing partner, Sophia Framm [‘24], and to have fun while also playing against some tough competitors.”
