Scots Head Into Busy Stretch, Including Two NCAC Matches This Week

Kimee Rankin

The College of Wooster women’s tennis team will play five matches over a seven-day stretch, including four this week. It all kicks off on Tuesday, April 10, when the Fighting Scots travel to Ohio Northern University (16-4), which was No. 14 in the Central Region in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings (March 15), for a 3 p.m. match-up. They met last year, too, and the Polar Bears earned a convincing 9-0 win. On Thursday, April 12, Wooster will play another member of the Ohio Athletic Conference, Baldwin-Wallace College (16-2), at 3:30 p.m. It will mark the Scots’ 2007 home finale, and they’ll be looking to avenge an 8-1 setback to the Yellow Jackets from last season. This Saturday, April 14, Wooster will be in Springfield, Ohio, where it will take on North Coast Athletic Conference foes Earlham College (3-1, 0-0 NCAC) and Wittenberg University (5-6, 1-3 NCAC). The Earlham-Wooster match is scheduled for 11 a.m., while the Scots and Wittenberg will take the court at approximately 3 p.m. Last spring, the Scots’ lone NCAC regular season win came against Earlham (5-4) and they also beat the Quakers in the NCAC Tournament (5-3), while the Tigers dealt Wooster a 7-2 loss in their only meeting.

    Last Week: The Scots dropped their first two NCAC contests of the season, ending the week with a 1-8 overall mark.
    On April 4, visiting Oberlin College blanked Wooster 9-0. The Scots nearly started the match on a positive note, but the No. 1 doubles tandem of Joanna Tysko (Athens, Ohio / Athens) and Elissa Lauber (Dover, Ohio / Dover) dropped a tough 9-8 decision to their counterparts. In singles, Wooster’s No. 4 player, Kimee Rankin (Connellsville, Pa. / Connellsville), put up a good fight before losing 6-1, 7-5.
    On April 7, the Scots and Allegheny College moved inside to Wooster Racquet & Fitness Club, where the Gators prevailed 5-1 in a match played to decision. Allegheny took all three doubles, with the Scots’ Brenna Hart (Avon Lake, Ohio / Avon Lake) and Erin Bauer (Delaware, Ohio / Rutherford B. Hayes) posting a close setback at No. 2 (8-5). The Gators made it 4-0 before Rankin extended the match, triumphing in a third-set super tiebreaker 10-3 after splitting the first two sets 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Sixth singles was the next to finish, sealing the victory for Allegheny, while at No. 1 singles, Tysko held a 6-2 lead on her opponent.