The Bowling Green tennis team debuted its four freshmen along with new head coach Olga Elkin this past weekend at the Miami Invitational.
Three of the four newcomers competed in doubles action on the first day of the event. Meili Martin and Megan Miller won their first collegiate match 8-2 against Eastern Kentucky University. Madison Adams teamed up with sophomore Harley Hutchison in an 8-4 loss in her first match.
The team then took on Xavier University in all six singles matches. All four freshmen and two sophomores played in a match, dropping all six to XU. The only player to win a set was Adams, who took her second set 6-3 against All-Big East junior Alex Brinker. The match stayed close until the end with Brinker winning the tiebreaker set 10-8.
Freshman Emily Witt made her collegiate debut in the sixth flight, losing to Daniella Patton two sets to none.
The second day of the invitational was more of a successful trip, with half of the roster picking up wins.
Hutchison teamed up with Adams again in the top doubles flight, taking down defending Mid-American Conference regular season champs 8-4. The win was the only doubles win for the team on the day, losing two against MU and another three against XU.
Bowling Green competed in 12 singles matches, splitting six each against XU and Eastern Kentucky University.
Martin got the first singles win of her career in the third flight against EKU. The win came comfortably, sweeping Dominika Hadnadova in two sets 6-2, 6-3.
Miller also picked up her first collegiate singles win at the fifth flight. She swept EKUs senior Melissa Gerritsen by winning the first set 6-4 and the second in a tiebreaker 7-6.
Hutchison is off to a slow start individually, playing at the top singles flight the whole weekend. The second year player was not able to win a game in any of her matches, though the first game of her EKU match up was a tiebreaker loss 7-5.
Even though there were more losses than wins, the experience was what is important for the young team. All four freshmen were able to compete in individual matches while three out of four participated in doubles.
The team will be back in action next weekend when they host the annual BG Invitational at Keefe Courts.
