Fifty Percent...

Tennis Season Opens

By Emery Rudolph

 

The Lady Bulldogs tennis team's record does not display the actual effort they have put in so far this season.  At the moment they sit at a 5-5 overall record.  Despite their first scheduled game against St. Mary's College of Maryland being postponed, they actually started off well.

            They opened up the season with a back-to-back against Fayetteville State University.  First in Maryland then down in North Carolina.  Both games were won by the Lady Bulldogs with a 5-4 score.  They won two of three doubles matches.

            Days later in Petersburg, VA, Virginia State swept the Lady Bulldogs 5-4 and 8-1.  Danielle Fields lost her singles match to Imani James 8-2.  Another senior on the squad, Jasmine McNair, also lost her singles match 8-2 except it was to Lakevia Ingram.

            Almost a week later they returned to Bowie and took a page out of the softball team's book.  They shut out and dominated Livingstone College.   It was a landslide 9-0 victory by the Lady Bulldogs, never giving Livingstone a slim chance in any game.

            After a six day rest, they then took on both Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and Shippensburg University in the same day.  The first game they displayed dominance and persistence, winning 9-0 much like their previous game.  However, fatigue may have set in close to the end of their match against Shippensburg.  They would lose by a slim margin of 4-5 and had to recover quickly because they had another match against Elizabeth City State University the next.

            Against ECSU, they split the matches 1-1.  They Lady Bulldogs won the #1, #2, #4, #5, and #6 singles.  They also managed to sweep the doubles.  The results of this match set their record at 5-4.  Five days later they then took on Johnson C. Smith University.  This was yet another slim loss for them, 4-5.

            They close out the regular season with Saint Paul's College, Shaw University, and Saint Augustine's College.    Following that, the CIAA Championships are scheduled to begin on April 15th.