Tennis has once again returned to Goshen College with both mens’ and womens’ teams kicking off their season last week. After promising opening week results, an injection of fresh blood into the program and being back at home in front of an excited student section, team morale is high with both players and staff hoping to achieve big things this season.
The team’s home opener was last week against Spring Arbor. Both teams picked up victories, with the men winning 6-1 and the women winning 5-2. For the men, this was a one sided affair, with all of Goshen’s victories coming in just two sets, making it three straight wins in a row over Spring Arbor. The women’s game was slightly closer, with the Leafs winning the doubles point and four out of the six singles matches, with a couple wins coming in three sets. This is the first victory against Spring Arbor since 2006. Blanka Bodo, a sophomore playing at number one in both singles and doubles for the Leafs, said, “It was incredible … we have a lot of freshmen coming in so it was kind of like a tryout … it proved that this team is going to be strong for the season.”There are six first-years on the women’s roster this year, meaning they have a full roster for the first time in recent history. This helps strengthen the program both now and for the future, and gives Goshen women’s tennis a solid base to keep improving. Despite the team encountering injury problems early on this season, once the roster is back at full capacity it will provide a massive boost and more great results.
A factor for the team this year has been playing their home games back at GC, rather than at Goshen Junior High School, where home matches were played last year. “It’s huge,” coach Jon Bemisderfer said. “That’s what was a contributing factor to today, especially at the end in Pedro’s match … Goshen College is a small community, to have everything right here means a lot.”
The team didn’t play at the college last year due to the quality of the courts. The courts were supposed to improve before this season started but according to Bodo there are still some issues, “They are better … but there are still cracks. They tried to fix them but they are still not that good … they are trying their best and I think it’s so much better than last year.” Despite the ongoing issues with the courts, the overwhelming opinion in the team is that playing at home in front of Goshen students is worth dealing with the slightly lower quality courts. Mario Gomez, one of only two seniors on the men’s starting lineup this year said, “We train here, we know how to handle these courts, and also the atmosphere, today was amazing … playing next to the fans … that motivated me and I think it’s great to be here again.”
The next home game against Grace is scheduled for September 26 at 3 p.m.
