Since last posting, AWT has played three more matches and enjoyed three more victories; in case you've lost track, I'll put our schedule back into perspective: six matches in six days over spring break, followed by fourteen match-free days, followed by five matches in eight days through this Saturday. What a schedule.

Anyways, back to what's been happening recently. After hardly 48-hours of rest, we started back up into matches against fellow NESCAC team Tufts. We all knew this would be a hard match, especially considering we were still without our number one player and due to threatening weather conditions we'd be playing the Jumbos indoors on an unfamiliar surface. For this latter reason we arrived even earlier than usual to warm-up so that we'd have ample time to get used to each of the four indoor courts in the athletic complex. After warming up all our strokes, playing doubles points, and running drills with Jackie on all of the four courts (a process which took over an hour) it was time to actually begin playing the match. At number one doubles, where Carlissa again filled in to partner with Natasha, the experienced Tufts' tandem showed the value of knowing your partner's game as they finished on top 8-2 despite great play by Natasha and Carlissa. At number three Jill and Laura proved overpowering and intimidating forces as they poached and slammed their way to an 8-2 victory in Amherst's favor. Again Anuja and I were the last match on the court and, despite some evident nerves and fluster on my part as Amherst and Tufts players cheered from both sides of our court, we held on for an 8-5 win and secured the Amherst lead as we headed into singles. 

Because the facility only had four courts, Laura and I waited waiting on the sidelines cheering before beginning our own matches on the first two open courts.   Laken, as usual, jumped out to an early lead at number four, but the rest of the team was having difficulty adjusting their style of play to the fast courts and heavy balls hit by Tufts opponents. During the end of the first set Carlissa's knee started bothering her and pulled out as a precautionary measure one game into the second set. With the match tied at 2-2 and Amherst players down a set at positions two and three, I knew my point was pivotal to an Amherst victory and mentally prepared myself to "get down to business" from the first point. I won relatively quickly 6-1, 6-1, but almost as soon as I got off the court Natasha and Jill lost their respective matches and the total match score was, once again, tied at four and down to freshman Laura Danzig. After a slow start in the first set (which she still managed to pull out 7-5), Laura found her rhythm and quickly sealed the second set and Amherst victory.  We drove back to campus that night belting out old-school Backstreet Boys and S Club 7 hits of youth, relieved that we'd pulled out the victory without our strongest line up and trying not to think about all the homework awaiting us when we returned to Amherst around 10pm.

Wednesday we enjoyed a much-needed day off for our bodies and schoolwork to recover, and on Thursday we had a light hit and doubles drill session to prepare for our match against Connecticut College the next day. The rain thankfully held off Friday afternoon, but the intermittent strong gusts of wind and cold temperatures made tennis a little difficult and less enjoyable for our Californians; though they insisted that "this just isn't tennis weather", I remembered playing sectionals in the snow during my senior year of high school and thanked my lucky stars I was a born and raised, thick-skinned Ohioan.  It didn't take too long for us to roll to a 9-0 victory, and many of us took advantage of some uneven matches to practice and groove strokes for the next day's big match against Wellesley.

The weekend's forecasted rain finally arrived that evening and continued on through the morning, forcing us inside to play the match late in the afternoon. We enjoyed having a free Saturday morning to sleep in late and hang out with friends before heading over to Mount Holyoke to warm up around 3:30. Jackie told us before warming up how much Wellesley was "gunning" for us; they'd had strong results against tough opponents in the fall and have always been regarded as great competitors. Our motto for the day, courtesy of Natasha, became "do work". Wellesley's doubles proved to again be very strong, and it certainly took a great deal of work and focus for Anuja and myself to finally put away our match 8-6. Laura and Jill had again made fast work of their opponents at number three, but at number one Brittany and Natasha struggled and lost against a very cohesive and crafty pair from Wellesley. Heading into singles up 2-1 proved to be a vital confidence boost as it allowed the entire team to play relaxed and loose as we rolled on to sweep the singles and secure the 8-1 victory.

Having assured ourselves that we could, mentally and physically, handle so much competitive tennis in a brief period of time will inevitably prove valuable in the near future...the very near future...

Part two of this post is coming soon (I promise...?)

Mimi