Belles crush Comets with fresh players
By KATIE MCVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
The Saint Mary's tennis team dominated Olivet in a 9-0 win Tuesday and improved its record to 13-1.
The Belles faced off against the Comets Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Niles after being forced indoors due to the inclement weather.
Olivet is in eighth place in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) after losing the only two matches it has played. The Comets had just four players going into the match and thus lost three matches by default. Saint Mary's coach, Dee Stevenson, took the opportunity to play a different lineup.
Stevenson chose a young lineup for Tuesday, playing freshmen Marta Zecon and Sarah Brahler, and sophomores Elizabeth Speith and Bridgid Burfiend.
"Because there was so much added depth this season, he [Stevenson] has a lot of flexibility switching around the line-up," Zecon said. "Playing first singles was a big step up."
"Olivet's players are very young," Stevenson said. "It was a great chance for me to play some of my other players. I'm lucky I inherited such great talent."
All four women won their singles matches in two sets and the doubles teams of Zecon and Brahler, and Speith and Burfiend took both matches as well.
"They did very well," Stevenson said. "They got to play in the matches which they don't get to do very often."
The Belles went into Tuesday's game following a successful road trip this weekend.
The Belles traveled to Spring Arbor College Saturday and brought home a 8-1 victory.
Stevenson took the opportunity to use a different roster again.
Co-captain Becky Kremer, Angela Sander, Torie Cox, Zecon and Burfiend recorded victories in singles for the Belles and the doubles teams of Kremer and Leslie Ortiz, Zecon and Sander, and Burfiend and Cox claimed wins. The Belles only loss came from Ortiz's singles match.
Stevenson gave most of the credit for the win to his players.
"The women analyzed their opponents and what they had to do to win," he said. "They really don't need much coaching."
The coach has said he has been focusing on teaching his women how to analyze opponents, find their weak spots, and take advantage.
"I think that has been helpful as far as strategies go," Mollan said. "Being able to analyze opponents' weaknesses has helped us win games."
While some changes were instituted against Spring Arbor, the regular Saint Mary's lineup trounced a surprised Kalamazoo College 9-0 Sunday.
"Kalamazoo was tougher competition that we've been playing," freshman singles player Lindsay Mollan said. "But everyone played very well."
The match opened with a heart stopper as co-captain Katie Vales and Annie Knish played a close doubles match. The doubles team led off with a slow start, falling behind the Kalamazoo team 4-1 early in the first set.
"There were a lot of unforced errors and we just weren't focused," Knish said. "They weren't really winning the points, we were losing them."
Knish and Vales made a strong comeback and won the set 6-4.
"We decided to stay in the game and see what we could do," Knish said. "And we ended up coming out on top."
Vales faced another tough match, going to a tiebreaker in her first singles set. She won that set 7-6 and went on to take the match.
The final tough match for the Belles came as freshmen Trisha Jones was forced to go three sets in No. 6 doubles. She dropped the first set to her Kalamazoo opponent, but came back and won the last two frames.
The other points on Sunday came from singles wins by Natalie Cook, Knish, Kremer, and Mollan. The doubles teams of Cook and Kremer, and Cox and freshman Elisa Ryan recorded victories as well.
"The team did really well on Sunday," Knish said. "I'm excited about how the team came together."
Players say that new additions to the team have been instrumental in the Belles' success.
"We have awesome freshmen," Knish said. "They add a lot of depth and help in singles and in 3rd doubles."
In addition to his club's strong record, Stevenson is proud of the rapport his team has with other coaches in the conference.
"Almost every coach has complimented me on how nice our team is," he said. "That continued in our last few games."
The Belles will face off against conference rival Alma this Saturday at home at 9:00 and then non-conference competitor Tri-State at 4:00. Saint Mary's is hoping to keep the wins rolling in.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, April 5, 2000
