Women's tennis has power to beat the competition
Staff writer
Heading into his fourth year as head coach of the women's tennis team, Lonnie Isaac hopes at least to place second in the conference this year.
"I think it is a legitimate goal with the girls we have on the team this year," Isaac said.
Sporting only two seniors, three sophomores, and one freshman, Isaac is confident that his six-member team can compete with the other conference teams.
Tabor returns seniors Kim Harden and Lindsay Adrian, sophomores Jennifer Proffitt, Ashlee Helmley, Danni Brucks, and adds freshman newcomer Laurel Delamater to his roster.
Isaac explained there are six singles positions and three doubles team on the college level.
"It's not like high school where you can only have two singles positions and two doubles teams," he said.
Isaac said some of the top spots will be taken by sophomores and freshman.
"They will play major roles on the team," Isaac stated.
He feels his team will be strong in the middle of the line up at the three-four singles and in the No. 2 doubles positions.
"One of the things our team needs to have improvement in is the mental toughness side of the game," Isaac said.
He predicted defending champion Bethel College will be the favored this year.
"Bethany will be strong this year, too," Isaac said. "Our conference is stronger than it has been in a long time."
The girls' team will compete in nine or 10 playing dates this fall and will compete in six to eight matches in the spring.
Isaac said when recruiting, he and staff set up two goals for the team this year. They were: first, to recruit one player to play at the top and second, to add some depth and numbers to the team.
"We were able to recruit that player with our freshman, but we failed to recruit any other players to come and play tennis at Tabor," he said.
This is definitely something Isaac hopes to accomplish next recruiting season.
