Womens Tennis Fall 2007 Journal

A lot has changed. We are a different team than we were last year. Some left. Some came. Anca, who was our assistant coach, left, Travis came. Masha graduated, but Tara and Andra started. Ginger, our former trainer, left, and Heather came. All of us have a year more of experience under our belts and are a year closer to graduating. But, even though many things are changing, some things do not change. Every day the same yellow tennis balls come over the net at us and we practice, practice, and practice some more. We still have to get up every morning to go to class and we still travel all over the country to play individual tournaments in the fall and dual matches in the spring.

This fall we did more conditioning than last year. Despite the occasional complaints and tired bodies, we worked hard on getting in top shape with 7 am runs, boxing, and lots of after practice sprints. After the first days when we could hardly walk, the pain subsided, and by the end, we were pleased to see that those hours of conditioning were well spent and worth it.

The first tournament of the season was the UNC Wilmington Invitational on red clay. Only three of us went: Olya, Jenya, and Andra. It was a very fun tournament that brought very good results for the Buccaneers with several first place finishes. In addition to having good results on the court, the girls stayed in a host family’s home, where they were treated like royalty. They got to enjoy spending time on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and tubing, which made this tournament an all around wonderful experience.

The second tournament of the year was the UT invitational. This was the first tournament to which all of us went. It was a hard weekend! Despite all of the training, it was exhausting to get back to playing so many matches in three days on hard courts against top ranked schools. By the end of the weekend, not only were we all very sore physically with lots of tight muscles, but also exhausted emotionally. Somehow the “firsts” always seem to be the hardest: the first tournament, the first paper, the first test… And in this case, too, it was true. After UT, the tournaments seemed to get a lot easier (or maybe we just got tougher). The fight on the court was just as hard, but the routine of traveling, playing three matches a day, missing classes, and making up work all seemed to get significantly easier.

Our third tournament was our only tournament at home. Most of us played this one. Each of us either won our draw or lost in the finals. It was nice to get to play at home and have some successful results. This weekend was not real eventful.

Our fourth tournament was at VA Tech. Tennis wise it went pretty well with several of our girls beating some good players. We stayed at a hotel with good cookies and a nice jacuzzi and pool. These were fun and a nice way to relax after our matches. However, one of the most memorable parts of this trip took place after we finished the tournament. Coach took us to the memorial of the April sixteenth massacre. It really put things in perspective. Some of us were sad about how we played or worried about upcoming exams, but then we stepped out of the bus and saw the plaques commemorating all of the students and teachers who had been shot. Somehow, playing poorly on the tennis court or an upcoming exam were not such huge suffering compared to these thirty-two deaths. It was quiet on the bus for quite awhile on the trip home.

Our fifth tournament was at Air Force, and three of us went: Tara B., Tara S., and Whitney. We flew out on Wednesday to Colorado to have time to get used to the high altitude. Playing at a mile high, no matter how good your conditioning might be, is hard. Notwithstanding, Tara B. beat a ranked player here, so that was exciting for all of us! The weather was cold and rainy, so they changed the format of the tournament so that we played fewer matches than we were supposed to. This allowed time for us to go to Denver and see a little of the city, as well as visit Garden of the Gods. We greatly enjoyed driving through dozens of enormous and majestic rock formations, and driving along the base of the mountains.

Our sixth tournament was Regionals at Chapel Hill, and only three of us qualified: Jenya, Olya, and Tara B. It was an exciting tournament, because for the first time in ETSU history, a doubles team was seeded. Jenya and Olya set this record obtaining the 9th seed.

Our seventh tournament, and the last to which most of us went, was at University of South Carolina. It was a good tournament for Tara B., especially, who reached the finals of a tough flight. It was also a special tournament for Jenya because her older sister was there playing, too. After finishing this tournament, we were happy to have finished another fall (at least most of us had finished), and were relieved to have more time to get caught up on work and were excited about the upcoming breaks: Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The final tournament of the season for ETSU was at UNC Wilmington. This tournament was Travis’ first time to take a team to a tournament by himself, and he did a good job. Elena, Vita, and Whitney went to this tournament. Wilmington’s beauty could not make up for the weather. The first day was absolutely miserable. The wind was dreadfully strong, making it nearly impossible to play, not to mention that it was extremely cold. We survived this tournament by simultaneously wearing all of the layers of clothes we had taken and by repeated trips to Starbucks. Fortunately, each day the weather became a bit better, and by the final day it was almost comfortable to play. On our last day, we enjoyed a quick trip to the beach to see the ocean and beautiful scenery speckled by surfers, but sadly did not get to have the fun beach experiences that Olya, Jenya, and Andra had at the beginning of the season.

After this last tournament, we all got a chance to take off for a few days, let our bodies recover from the wear and tear of playing lots of matches, and get ready for our big exams and presentations. After this recovery period, we started individual tennis practices with Coach and Travis and boxing with Coach Morrow.

One of the last times our team was together for the semester was to do a service project working at the Children’s Advocacy Banquet. It was fun, but also a lot of work. Some of our tasks were to carry huge serving pieces, wash dishes, and set up and clean up the Jonesborough Story Telling Center, all the while wearing high heels! Concluding our team events were our final team dinner and Christmas party.

Now we are very excited to see our families and friends, get caught up on sleep, and gear up for the spring and our first matches. We start off playing against #5 University of Georgia in Athens on January 25, and then have several away matches the first couple of weeks in February. After this, we are excited about our upcoming home games. We play Charlotte on the 22 of February in Bristol, then, also on the 22, Tennessee Tech in the Mini Dome. After these dates, we have many a lot of home games that you can find more about on our schedule. We gladly invite you to come watch our matches, and look forward to seeing you soon. Go Bucs!