If winning the doubles point is any indication of how well the BG tennis team will do the rest of the season then other schools had better watch out.
The Falcons improved to 9-0 – one shy of the school record – with wins over the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University this past weekend thanks in large part due to their doubles play.
The Falcons swept the doubles point in both matches to take an early 1-0 lead. They have swept the doubles point in four straight matches and six out of the last seven.
Overall, BG has won the doubles point in eight of the nine dual matches.
Coach Penny Dean credits the team’s doubles’ success to the Indiana Doubles Invitational held in January where she was able to experiment with different tandems.
“The experiment time helped us come up with four really good combinations that work well together and are comfortable together,” she said.
“Out of all four of them, any one of them could step up and play at the No. 1 on any given day.”
Dean also credits Kent Wymer, a teaching pro at Shadow Valley Tennis Club, who has been helping the team once a week working a majority of that time on doubles.
Winning the doubles point can control the fate of a team, especially when the teams are comparable ability-wise.
“If you and another team are very close in ability, it often comes down to splitting the singles three and three,” Dean said, “so you know winning the doubles point means winning the match.”
To help win the point and the match, the team has a new outlook on doubles, according to Dean.
“We’re trying to start out every doubles match strong, going after our shots and testing the other team right off the bat to see if there are certain shots they can hit or not. We focus more on that process rather than focusing on winning or losing.”
BG definitely came out focused this weekend.
Against the Musketeers (7-4) on Sunday, the duo of Kelsey Jakupcin and Christine Chiricosta won 8-2 at the top flight.
The tandems of senior co-captains Jenna Nussbaum/Andrea Volle and Katia Babina/Sam Kintzel both won their matches, 8-6, at the second and third flights, respectively.
On Saturday against the Bearcats (3-8), the Falcons dropped no more than four games in any match, including an 8-0 win by Babina and Kintzel at the third flight.
Babina feels winning the doubles point gives the team more motivation.
“If we get this one point, we’re more motivated and we know we’ve started strong and on top and we’ve got to keep on going,” she said. “It’s kind of a motivational point for us.”
Not only does winning the doubles point give the team more motivation to do well, but according to Dean, it also gives them confidence.
“It’s definitely a confidence builder to go into singles feeling good because you won and there’s not a lot of pressure to win four or five of the singles matches to win the match.”
BG didn’t need to win four or five singles matches in either contest this weekend, but it did anyway.
Out of the 12 singles matches played over the weekend, BG lost only one.
Against Xavier, each Falcon competing in the top-five singles flights came away with victories.
Jakupcin (first flight), Chiricosta (second) and Stefanie Menoff (fifth) all posted straight-set victories for BG, dropping no more than four games in each of their respective matches.
Kintzel lost her first set, 3-6, in the fourth flight, but bounced back and won the next two sets against Kaitlyn Zinn.
Babina clinched the victory for the Falcons with her straight-set victory (6-1, 7-5) over Jill Ducro in third-flight action.
It was more of the same for BG against Cincinnati as it won all six singles flights – five were in straight sets.
Jakupcin (top flight), Babina (third), Kintzel (fourth), Menoff (fifth) and Nussbaum (sixth) all defeated their respective opponents in straight sets.
Falcons competing in flights three through six lost no more than three games in any particular set.
Chiricosta’s second-flight match against Jennifer Keiner was the lone match to require a tiebreaker.
After Keiner won the first set, 7-6, Chiricosta fought back to win the second set, 6-0. Chiricosta then won the match by winning the tiebreaker, 10-3.
The Falcons will try to break the school record for best start when they travel to California over spring break for two matches. They will face UC San Diego on March 4 and Cal Poly Pomona two days later.