The men's and women's tennis teams continued their seasons against talented competition on their spring break trip through the Sunshine State. The teams traveled to Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and the trip culminated in a couple of tough matches in West Palm Beach.
The women's team continued their improvement this season with an impressive showing in Florida, collecting three wins and one loss. They topped Nova Southeastern 5-4, St. Thomas 8-0, and Palm Beach Atlantic 6-3. Northwood handed them their only loss of the trip by a score of 5-0. Second-year Annie Miller went 3-1 for the trip in the second-singles position. The second-doubles team of second-years Shoshana Krieger and Elizabeth Saydah finished at 2-1.
"Our spring trip was great because we had the opportunity to work with each other everyday," second-year Annie Miller said.
Despite winning two out of three doubles matches, Chicago dropped four of its six singles matches in a 4-5 defeat at the hands of St. Thomas (Fla.) to open the trip. After being abroad for two quarters, third-year Jacob Reckess made a strong showing in his first singles match of the year, losing by a slim margin against St. Thomas' Francisco Alvarez 7-6, 7-5 in the first-singles position.
The men's team lost the next three matches of the week, falling to Auburn-Montgomery (0-9), Palm Beach Atlantic (1-6), and Northwood (0-5).
The teams felt that overall the trip was a positive experience and that they played solid tennis.
"It was good to play outside to get us ready for our Midwest season," said Marty Perry, head men's and women's coach.
The men's team stands at 2-7 on the season, and they hope to improve their record in the next couple weeks, when they will face the bulk of their Midwest competition. They will face Concordia (9-6) and UW-Whitewater (9-8) this Saturday, April 3, in Whitewater, Wisconsin. On Sunday, the team will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to play Carthage College (11-3).
The women now have a 5-5 record overall, and they are looking for key wins to propel them above .500. Their next match will also be this Saturday, April 3, at home against St. Mary's College of Indiana (10-3) on the courts beside Stagg Field at 55th Avenue and Cottage Grove Boulevard. They will follow the match with a trip to 27th-ranked Carthage (11-0) on Sunday in a meet including Lake Forest (8-7).
