Last weekend's battle against 12th ranked University of Washington in St. Louis couldn't be a closer matchup for the DePauw University Tigers' women's tennis program.
The Tigers, ranked 13th in the nation, proved victorious with a 6-3 win over the Bears.
The doubles teams for DePauw helped the Tigers get out to an early lead.
"We started off sweeping [Washington University] in doubles, which they haven't had happen to them since Emory, who was number two nationally at the time" said senior captain Meg Crowley.
Only eight games in total were lost during the three doubles matches, each of which the Tigers won. Junior Maggie MacPhail, junior Claire Marshall and freshman Maddie Lee each won their singles matches.
The Tigers have been moving forward with positive momentum this season.
"This was an encouraging start to this season for which our goal is to win a National Championship," Crowley said.
Last weekend was also the annual DePauw tennis alumni weekend. Every year current team members face the alumni teams. This year, both the men's and women's current teams were undefeated against the returning alumni.
"Alumni weekend is one of our favorite weekends of the spring season," said junior Julie Wittwer.
At one point, eight all-American women's tennis players were on the court at one time. Crowley, Marshall, MacPhail and senior Caroline Emhardt are current all-Americans on the team.
However, the men's lost all but one match last weekend.
Senior leaders Sam Miles and Ben Kopecky, got the only win for DePauw on Sunday, and for good reason.
Their doubles team is hard to beat largely because of their experience together. Kopecky and Miles have played together for four years and are friends off the court.
"Because we are such close friends, we communicate really well both during and in between points," Miles said. "We adapt quickly to how our opponents are playing against us, a dynamic that is important to being successful in fast paced college doubles."
On the technical side, Miles and Kopecky agree that they are both stellar at returning a serve, a key to the game.
"If we have a pre-match ritual, it would be that we usually like sit together on the bench before the coin toss and talk a little trash about our opponents, Kopecky said. "Whether it is a goofy haircut or just the way one of them walks, we think it helps us gain a competitive edge to poke fun at the opponent before the match begins."
The tactic works well for them. Both the men's and women's Tigers will be in action this weekend.
Last night, they both took on Olivet Nazarene University at home. The women are back in action tonight, taking on The Principia School at 6 p.m., and the men will square off against them at 8 a.m. Saturday. They both play Ohio Wesleyan University later in the day on Saturday with the women's team at 3:30 p.m. and men at 6 p.m.