The Fort Hays State University tennis team finished the fall season last weekend with a 5-2 overall record.
The Tigers saw competition at varying levels in the fall, starting the season with a pair of in-state matches on the road against Bethel College and Southwestern College.
FHSU won two of three doubles matches and four of six singles matches against Bethel for a record of 6-3.
The Tigers then traveled to Winfield to take on a Southwestern College team and won 7-2 as they swept doubles play and won four of six singles matches.
Next, FHSU traveled to Colorado to take on three schools. The Tigers went 1-2 in Colorado with an 8-1 victory over Colorado Christian, and 1-8 losses to both Colorado Mesa and Colorado State-Pueblo.
The Tigers finished the season with a couple of wins, grabbing a 7-2 win in the home opener against Kansas Wesleyan by sweeping doubles and taking four of six singles matches.
Last weekend the Tigers ended the season with a 9-0 victory against Hastings College. FHSU won all of their singles matches in straight sets and gave up only four points in doubles play.
Overall, Brian Flax, head coach, was happy with what he saw from his players in the fall.
“I can’t say I walked off the court one time and wasn’t excited about how hard we worked,” Flax said. “These girls are working very hard, there’s been a lot of improvement since we started in late August.”
Camille Caron-Bedard, Quebec, Canada, senior, led the way for the Tigers in the fall going 4-1 in singles play and 5-4 in doubles play. Brittney Ricci, Parker, Co., senior, went 3-3 in singles and 6-3 in doubles play to finish the fall season. Michelle Miller, Ellinwood senior, finished 2-5 in singles play and went undefeated in doubles with a 4-0 record.
“Singles and doubles are very different,” Caron-Bedard said. “Doubles have a much faster game pace mainly because of the two players at the volley position. Points are a lot shorter so it is very important to take advantage of the point right away in order to finish the point quickly before the other team gets to hit a winning volley.”
For Flax and the Tigers, the focus now shifts to improving physically and preparing for the 2015 spring season.
“Now we are going to work on getting better individually,” Flax said. “We don’t get a whole lot of time on the court this time of year however, we work on conditioning and becoming better athletes.”
Something that I would like to see improve now that our fall season is over is the conditioning aspect,” Caron-Bedard said. “We just need to work on being faster and stronger in order to be able to go through a long match without our bodies giving up.”
FHSU begins the 2015 spring season at home on March 6 as they take on Central Oklahoma.