So after reading some of the other blogs on the website, I realized I probably ought to introduce myself and, more importantly, the team. I am a sophomore double-majoring in religion and political science and originally hail from Shaker Heights, Ohio. Apart from the small class sizes, beautiful scenery, brilliant professors, and interesting students (to name but a few), I was attracted to Amherst by the tennis team's historical success within the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) and Division III as a whole. For those readers unacquainted with the history of the program, the Amherst women's tennis team has made 14 straight NCAA tournament appearances, has won the NESCAC title the past four years, and won the NCAA championship in 1999.  Though I am clearly biased, we are a veritable power house, and if we play intense, focused, and smart tennis there is no team that we cannot beat.

            Even more impressive than these statistics and my own immodest praise are the girls themselves who make up our unique, diverse, and ever-entertaining team. Though in the season's final tournaments our roster will be confined to eight players, eighteen girls are officially members of the team. Some may never see playing time, while some have crucial components of the line-up since their freshman fall, but regardless we're all proud to announce that we're part of "AWT" (Amherst Women's Tennis). Since my first captain's practice at Amherst over freshman orientation, the tennis team has been a source of support, advice, and friendship - even if it took me a month and a half to talk regularly in practices.  To say we become one another's family away from home is extraordinarily cliché, but also extraordinarily accurate. We compete with one another for playing time, turn to one another for advice, laugh with and at each other, and sometimes get so fed up that we just want to throw our racquet across the court and walk out, but the team's still your team and you're going to have to (and will indeed want to) show up to team dinner in the dining hall from time to time.

            But that's enough of an overview for now; its time to talk about what we're doing right now to ensure that this season is a success. This past week our cage time was (mercifully) pushed forward to 8pm - 10pm, with many of us coming down to work with Jackie in between our morning classes.  However, our usually varied and unpredictable practice schedule got a little more complicated as much of the team succumbed in bouts to coughing, running noses, and general fatigue - an undiagnosed malady now simply being referred to as 'the plague'. While Jackie was trying desperately to schedule challenge matches before our spring break play begins next Sunday, it seemed as though a new player was falling ill daily. Add to that the last-minute Sunday night exams, pulled muscles, and a thumb that swelled to the size of a small kiwi after being slammed in a door, and it seems lucky that we've managed to get any of these challenge matches in. Thankfully, the plague's presence has perceptibly diminished and everyone has once again returned to playing shape, with the only reminders of earlier illness being sniffles, coughs, and the industrial-sized box of Kleenex Charlotte brought to practice this weekend.

            For the next two weeks we will continue playing challenge matches, working doubles formations, and mentally and physically preparing ourselves for the demanding trip to California that awaits us. Look out for further previews about those matches and our own line up in next week's post! For now, here are a few pictures of the team to give you a better idea of what AWT is all about:

The team after last year's NESCAC Tournament win

After beating The College of New Jersey in California last spring

Most of last year's team (including Jackie and her daughter) at graduation

Until next week,

Mimi