GCSU Women’s Tennis concluded its fall season over the first weekend of October. At the Mercer Gridiron Classic, the Bobcats battled teams from across the southeast, including Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University, Middle Georgia State University, Mercer University, Florida Southern College, Georgia Southern University, The University of South Alabama and Alabama State University.
During the tournament, 10 of GCSU’s players competed in multiple singles and doubles matches. The team completed 26 wins with at least one win against every school except Kennesaw State and South Alabama.
Chiaro Santoro, a senior exercise science major, played eight singles matches and a tiebreaker match at the tournament and pulled two wins against Mercer University and one win against Georgia State. Santoro lost against Georgia State and Middle Georgia overall.
Santoro played four doubles matches versus Middle Georgia, Alabama State, South Alabama, and Florida Southern, with her partner Jada Young, a senior nursing major. The pair played against Middle Georgia, Alabama State, South Alabama, and Flordia Southern, pulling a win against Middle Georgia.
Young, played eight matches against KSU, Mercer, Florida Southern, and Middle Georgia. Out of the 8 Games, Young won about half.
Young also played two tie-breaker rounds against Mercer and Florida Southern, with both rounds coming out as huge wins for GCSU.
Ashley Bentz, a sophomore biology major, won against two schools out of four overall. After losing her first tie-breaker round, Bentz pulled two wins for GCSU against Georgia Southern and Georgia State.
Bentz also played four doubles matches against Florida Southern, Georgia Southern and Alabama State. Alongside teammate Shrada Chhabra, the pair won two doubles matches against Florida Southern.
Chhabra, a senior criminal justice major, and Victoria Conde Vendrell, a junior psychology major, were both victorious in at least one of their singles matches. Conde Vendrell pulled through a tie-breaker against Mercer and Chhabra won a match against Florida Southern.
Rachel Black, a freshman business administration major, won two of the four of her rounds along with four matches. Black won against her opponents from Georgia State and Florida Southern.
“We played some really good teams,” said Black. “We played some division one and division two teams. It was a higher level than what we’re used to, but that prepares us for the spring season.”
Natalie Kirka, a freshman mathematics major, won against three of her four competitors. Two of them were from Middle Georgia and Florida Southern, and the other was from GCSU, Alisa Chiang.
Chiang, a sophomore mass communication major, won two of the three matches she played against opposing schools. She also beat Middle Georgia and Florida Southern players.
During four doubles matches, two GCSU pairs faced off. Laura Almagro, a junior exercise science major, and Conde Vendrell beat Lucy Kim, a sophomore elementary education major who was paired with Chiang. Later on in the tournament, Kim’s pair pulled another doubles win against Florida Southern.
Though tennis consists of doubles and singles matches, team morale is still very important. With bigger and stronger teams, the players who are not in a match are always cheering on their teammates.
“If I’m playing and my teammate is not, she needs to be cheering on for me,” Almagro said.
Almagro and her coach Emma Flemming both agree that with solid team support during someone’s match, a player’s performance can be significantly better.
