It has been a season full of ups and downs thus far for the men and women’s tennis teams, but head coach Sean McCaffrey has both groups back on track after a solid weekend.
The men’s squad (9-10, 3-1 HL) won three of their previous four matches, including two huge Horizon League victories over last weekend by defeating Valparaiso and UIC, both on the road.
Leading the way for the Raiders was senior Hayden Joblin and junior Ricardo Pineda, as they both were able to pick up doubles match victories and singles match victories in both competitions over the weekend.
The Raider men fell 7-0 to Xavier Wednesday afternoon.
With two big league matches coming up this weekend, McCaffrey is looking for his team to continue improving.
“We have showed that we can compete in singles extremely well,” McCaffrey said. “I think the one thing we are going to focus on is being able to close out games when we have the lead.”
The women’s team (7-12, 1-3) has also found a way to get back on track, as they have won two of their last three contests, including its first Horizon League victory over Valpo last weekend on the road 7-0.
The first league win for the young Raider’s squad stemmed from huge performances from four of the many freshmen on this young team. Linsey Verstrepen, Vanessa Madrigal, Aby Madrigal, and Megan Brdicka were all victorious in both singles and doubles competition which has left coach McCaffrey feeling very optimistic for the remainder of the season heading forward.
“We are going in the right direction. We’ve got a lot of steam going, a lot of momentum. I’m thrilled with this group of women. I think that really the big thing is, are they acknowledging and are they learning from the experiences that we are having? And time will tell along the way,” McCaffrey said.
The women will look to continue their success this weekend, as they will be hosting two league matches against Detroit and Oakland.
The men’s team will also be in action this weekend, as they will be hosting a league match against Detroit on Saturday.
