The Oswego State women’s tennis team lost its first home match of the 2014 season to the SUNY New Paltz Hawks at the Romney Tennis Courts on Saturday afternoon, 9-0.
The doubles teams took the courts first. Doubles matches play in a pro set format, while singles play in a best of three set format.
The first doubles team of senior Lauren Stall and junior Alicia Kreamer lost to New Paltz’s Veronica Paikin and Jessica Schmidt, 8-3.
Kreamer is a junior transfer from Suffolk County Community College. Laker head coach Erin Skaradek sees the junior as a potential impact player right away.
“She’s just an all-around very consistent player from the baseline, not afraid to be aggressive at net. Her with Lauren, they are meshing really well,” Skaradek said.
In the next doubles match senior Haley Miller and freshman Jill Travis lost to Devin Tracy and Sara O’Brien, 8-1.
Skaradek touched on how the combination of a senior and freshman has worked so far.
“They have clicked, just like that. It was almost like, the first time we saw them play together in doubles, we knew they were going to be a great pair,” Skaradek said. “They communicate very well. They kind of compliment each other’s games. Jill stepped in as a freshman and is not playing like a freshman, which is awesome.”
In the final doubles match, seniors Olivia Knierman and Marie Halpin lost to Brittany Grandville and Olivia Ammirati, 8-2.
Kneirman and Halpin made a mini-comeback after dropping the first six games, winning two of the last four.
The singles then hit the courts. In first singles, Stall lost (6-1, 6-1) against Ammirati.
In second singles, Kreamer lost to Grandville (6-2, 6-0). The third, fourth and fifth singles ended with all the same result (6-0, 6-0). Junior Kelsey Wilson lost to Paikin, Miller lost to Schmidt and Travis lost to Carol Tyson, respectively.
The afternoon ended with Halpin losing to Liz Palmer (6-0, 6-1).
This season the competition is not just happening on match day. Skaradek is pleased with how players are challenging each other in practice.
“We got a big roster, 13 players this year. So certainly people looking to get in the lineup, fighting for some things. They are all pushing each other, they are all working hard, no one can take a break,” Skaradek said. “Just because they were in the lineup last year, doesn’t mean they are necessarily in the lineup this year. So everyone’s pushing themselves. We’re certainly a more fit team than we have been in the past. I think they are ready to work and ready to have fun.”
Stall, who is one of the co-captains, is already well aware that the clock is ticking down on the careers of all the seniors, including herself.
“We’ve always had a lot of new girls coming in, but for the girls who have been here all four years, have improved immensely,” Stall said. “You can see the improvement in everyone, and I think for our senior year, we just have to give it everything, cause this is it, there’s no going back.”
Skaradek gave her expectations for the season, as well.
“Obviously we want to improve on our record from last year. More importantly, we hope to improve on our record in the SUNYAC,” Skaradek said. “From here on out, every match should be pretty competitive for us. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t knock off a couple conference opponents.”
The Lakers now fall to 0-2. Their next match is at home on Friday, Sept. 5 against Wells College
