Welcome back! I am junior Chelsea Kahle and I am excited to share with you the happenings of the past week and a half. The Lady Netters were more than ready to get back to playing on UNCW turf after the long few days on the road. The week started off with a tough loss against Binghamton. We lost at number one and three doubles, but Christina Lee and Lindsay Leblang played an amazing match, pulling out the lone doubles win in a tiebreaker. The duo also earned the honor of CAA doubles team of the week! We picked up three wins in singles at number 1, 4, and 5. Dash fought hard at number six but her opponent was just “SSSSOOOOO GOOOOOD” and felt that she needed to remind everyone within three miles of that fact. You’ll get her next time Dash!
With the loss fresh in our minds, we got back to work with a renewed vengeance for our next opponents, Coastal Carolina. Coastal is always a tough team and we usually have tight, marathon matches with them. This year was no exception. Kayla and Riley fought hard at number one doubles but lost 8-4. Christina and Lindsay once again crushed their opponents at the number two spot. As usual, Hartley and I were the final doubles match on. With the amazing superman-like poaching of Hartley, we saved five match points and pushed the match into a tiebreaker that we won 7-4 to clinch the double point. Singles was fought tough, but it wasn’t enough to pull out the match. Lindsay and Christina Lee picked up the lone singles victories at positions four and one, respectively. Kayla battled like a champ through her three set match even fighting through muscle cramps in the third set. We were all proud of the fight she put up to try to save the match. The 4-3 loss put our record at 13-7.
The final two home matches of the season were against North Carolina Central University and Mount Olive University. A few days prior to this match Coach explained that at our fall tournament, NCCU’s Head Coach gave Coach a box of Fruit Loops because he said that they reminded him of her when he saw them at breakfast earlier that day. Coach took that as a compliment (possibly to her colorful personality). Three days after Coach had told us this story, Christina Lee, while standing on court, watching Kayla and Casey finish at number one doubles, looked over at Coach, and as seriously as one can possibly be, asked “So Coach, what did you do with those Fruit Loops?” Oh Christina, our lives would be so boring without you! No sooner did we recover from that comment, when Coach looked across the court to find Mr. Dashiell sporting an ODU Tennis sweatshirt! We all gave him the evil eye and pointed in disgust as his attire. When he realized the problem, he tore the sweatshirt off, threw it on the ground and stopped on it like it was a deadly insect, before finding a perfect little corner in the trash can for it to lie. Casey and Kayla, who were still on court and had no idea what was going on, were sure that he had been attacked by something terrible. The Netters came out strong against NCCU with a 7-0 victory, leading up to Saturday’s Senior Day match against Mount Olive.
Senior Day was bitter sweet for everyone. Kayla Schwenk, Hartley Collins, and Lauren Fuennning were honored during introductions with tearful hugs, flowers, signed pictures, and a bag of their favorite goodies. The seniors stepped out to play their final match on the UNCW courts with the support of fans, family, and the rest of the team. The Seahawks came out with another 7-0 victory, pushing the record to 15-7.
The Lady Netters depart Thursday for Virginia to compete in the CAA conference tournament, with a first round match against ODU. We will be ready to take them down this time! Here We Go Hawks!!
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