MANAGING EDITOR – SOPHIA KUSSEL
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT 4, 2023
The St. Mary’s University tennis teams have made strides this fall as they participate in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) South Central Regionals tournament. With the season well underway, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams have been training diligently and setting their sights on the upcoming months.
ITA’s vision is to serve as a platform for college tennis and to ensure the prosperity of college tennis in the long run, using competition to empower student-athletes. St. Mary’s tennis athletes participated in the regionals, representing the university among other collegiate teams while testing their individual excellence. From Sept. 28 through Sept. 30, the men’s tennis team traveled West for ITA’s South Central Regionals, with the tournament taking place at both the Penny Gullo Tennis Center on the LCU campus and Coronado High School. At the time of writing, the St. Mary’s men’s tennis team’s outcome is yet to be known. However, St. Mary’s women’s tennis team competed in the ITA South Central Regionals just two weeks prior during a four-week stretch of tournaments. Their participation provided a deeper insight into the level of competition and allowed the players to gauge their strengths and weaknesses for the spring semester.
When asked about the ITA experience, senior communications major and women’s tennis player, Baily Godwin stated, “Fall Regionals is always a different experience because you get to compete against the entire Region individually. It was my first fall Regionals playing in A draw for both singles and doubles, so I was just excited to have the opportunity to compete at a high level, but it definitely has motivated me to keep working hard to prepare for the Spring.”
The women’s tennis team began their session two weeks into the fall semester and prepared the tennis athletes for the upcoming spring season, which according to Godwin, “[is] our more important season.” Their training this season includes hitting practice, drills, practice matches against teammates, lifting weights, on-court fitness testing, and pool workout conditioning in preparation for fall tournaments. During the ITA South Central Regional over the weekend, St. Mary’s University women’s tennis team performed well, despite losing three key players in the last year. St. Mary’s freshman and tennis player, Selina Wu advanced through the tournament, progressing up to the finals, but falling in the competition finals and ranking second to fellow competitor Alessa Maier of Texas A&M Kingsville.
Alessa Maier delivered an admirable performance on the court and throughout the ITA tournament, firmly securing her spot in the main singles draw and earning the title of ITA South Central Regionals champion. This wrapped up Texas A&M Kingsville’s final tournament for the fall session. However, St. Mary’s women’s tennis team will not have another tournament until the last weekend of October, which will mark the last competition of the fall tennis season. When asked what she hoped to see this year, Baily Godwin left the Rattler with this response, “I am excited to work hard and rebuild this semester as a newer team and establish what everyone’s roles are going to be this year.”