SLC Women's tennis team destroys Bard

Last Sunday, on a warm, clear afternoon, the sound of tennis balls slapping acrylic hard courts under the shady forested region behind Andrew’s court could be heard as the women’s tennis team prepared for their 9th game of the season against Bard College. The match began with two simultaneous double’s games. Juliet Slade ‘17 and Autumn Atkinson ‘16 were teamed up to play on the elevated court while Sarah Pyatt ‘17 and Sophia Reh ‘18. teamed at the lower courts nearby.

Both of the doubles sets steadily rose in consecutive game wins until SLC had won the first two sets with scores of 8-0 in under 50 minutes. Bard seemed to be insufficiently warmed up as many of their players continuously made errors throughout the whole match.

The last tense game of one of the first double’s set ended with a series of fudged serves from Bard. Though they managed to use their last serve to get the ball into a valid section of the court Slade deflected it deftly back into their court with a well placed, game ending volley. Meanwhile in the lower courts, Reh and Pyatt had just won another game.                    

After a short intermission players split up into 3 singles games. The elevated court saw Atkinson playing her singles game. On the lower courts Slade and Pyatt played their own singles games. The games got tenser now in singles as each player held domain over the entirety of their half court and things started to warm up as they ran back and forth deflecting shots. Bard’s players seemed to gain some degree of confidence and control as their number of errors began to decrease slightly and they began to volley back a lot more than they had been earlier in the match. Down in the lower courts our player’s kept a firm hold, staying in the lead despite Bard’s slight advances.

Up in the elevated courts, Atkin’s talent as a player began to show in her singles match. She seemed to hold consistent and strong control over the trajectory of the ball almost every time it entered her half of the court. She remained energetic and confident as she carried herself through the whole game without losing a single point to her opponent. Near the end of her singles game she entered a skirmish of high speed back and forth, swiftly meeting the ball before it even gets a chance to move very far. Finally, she finished her opponent off with a strong, well spun forehand which sent a round green blur into the far right corner of her opponent's box.

Meanwhile down in the lower courts Bard’s players seemed to be standing more of a chance as they stretch the length of each game with long sessions of errorless volleying. Soon enough, Reh and Pyatt indeed prevailed over their opponents with scores of 8-2 and 8-0 respectively.

Slade played the final game on the elevated courts. She played deftly and without difficulty for the most part as her opponent made error after error. It was her opponents first game and many a serve thudded at the net. Though, near the end, Slade began to tire and lost 2 points to the Bard player. Eventually Slade indeed won the match winning game with a score of 8-2.

 The Women’s tennis team faces St. Joseph’s this Saturday, October 4th, at 1 p.m.