Women’s tennis team boasts young roster
With six of their 10 players being freshmen, the St. Joe’s women’s tennis team is filled with young talent trying to make their mark on the squad.
Freshmen Madison Chontos, Valeria Gonzalez, Madeline Hill, Amanda Nava, Lourdes Sprinckmoller and Iswarya Vel all make up the majority of the team.
According to Vel, the first year unit has to build and grow close because of the fact that they are such a large part of the team.
Transitioning from high school to college tennis has been a unique experience for all of the players. Chontos said the team aspect has been the biggest difference.
“You play as a team in high school, but it still feels more individual,” Chontos said. “We spend a lot of time together in college. Expectations are higher. We fight for each other.”
Nava said the biggest transition was the team dynamic, because she was homeschooled in high school.
“The hardest part was transitioning as a team,” Nava said. “Being homeschooled, I did everything individually.”
While tennis is an individual sport, the freshmen all agree that playing as a team is something that they need to work on.
“Playing as a whole is a big part of what we need to work on,” Hill said. “The atmosphere in college is different.”
In a more individual sense, Gonzalez said she needs to work on certain aspects of her game in order to continue to progress as a player.
“I need to work on my patterns,” Gonzalez said. “I need to play out the point smarter and win faster.”
Even though there are only three upperclassmen on the team, Sprinckmoller said all of them have provided a great example.
“They set the tone for the team,” Sprinckmoller said. “We look up to them. They’re very good role models.”
Vel said that senior captain Maureen Devlin has especially been a great influence on and off the court.
“As our captain, Maureen has been a great person to follow,” Vel said. “She’s been open to us as freshmen, telling us what to do and where to go.”
Many young players are still trying to establish their playing style. Nava said she looks up to certain players while also maintaining her own style.
“I have my own style but my role models are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal,” Nava said. “Right now my game is being shaped. I’m starting to figure it out and how to dominate.”
This group of freshmen are incredibly competitive amongst each other. Chontos said it makes them want to improve.
“The level of competition has pushed everyone,” Chontos said. “We all try to make eachother better. We want to be better than the other person but at the same time, you want to see your teammate succeed.”
As the season comes to a close, Hill said that their hard work has not been showcased in the form of their record.
“Our team record doesn’t necessarily reflect what we’ve done this season,” Hill said. “We competed a lot harder than we thought we were going to. A lot of our matches came down to points that we could have won.”
The Hawks now look to the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will begin on April 24 Orlando, Fla.
