Facing temperatures of over 100 degrees, the DePauw women’s tennis team battled the heat and their opponents to a successful start of the fall season in the DePauw Invitational.
Compiling a 21-12 record in singles matches and a 13-2 in doubles matches, not including the matches between two Tigers, head coach Scott Riggle was impressed at his team’s performance in the two-day tournament.
“I saw a lot of character and playing with a lot of heart in the 100 degree heat,” Riggle said. “To play six matches in 36 hours speaks to their physical and mental toughness.”
What impressed Riggle most was the play of his returning players, especially senior Kelly Gebert. The all-American who had a 29-9 record in doubles matches and an 18-14 record in singles matches last season won all six of her matches this weekend.
“I saw a lot of potential with the players returning,” Riggle said. “Kelly Gebert is playing unbelievably. She’s a returning all-American but she’s about twice as good as she’s ever been. She’s staying at that level on a consistent basis.”
Gebert, who had the luxury of playing inside the Indoor Track and Tennis Facility away from the outside heat, credited her past and present teammates, who have helped her get to where she is at the start of the season.
“Since I’ve been on the team for three years now, I’ve learned a lot about how to play by playing against them,” Gebert said. “Learning where to place the ball, learning opponents’ tendencies of weakness and exploiting them.”
For Riggle, the main focus of the team’s practice will be to control the point from the start of the serve.
Making more accurate serves and pinpointing their ground stokes to certain parts of the court will be key in the progress of every player.
“We need to improve how we start the points particularly how they start their serves,” Riggle said. “Get more refined with our strokes and control the points better. We’re staying in the points at this point in the season but maybe we could dictate more points here and there.”
The strong start to the season, along with the depth of the team’s ability show a lot of promise for the rest of the year’s play, serving as solid foundation from which to build according to Riggle.
Gebert and her teammates can walk away from this weekend feeling not only confident in themselves, but in their teammates as well.
Gebert mentioned one factor that stood out to her as contributing to the teams success.
“All the freshman seem pretty confident and we trust each other,” Gebert said. “That’s the most important thing. This weekend went really well, confidence is the No. 1 thing.”
The Tigers return to action next weekend at the Butler Invitational for a two-day tournament.
