The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

New methods prepare women's tennis for A-10s

The University of Richmond women's tennis team is taking advantage of an innovative fitness strategy and team unity to try and claim its third consecutive Atlantic 10 Conference title in Charlottesville, Va., this weekend.

As the top-seeded team, the Spiders are going into the tournament expecting to win. "People are definitely scared of us because they know we perform well during A-10s," said Ripley Hartmeyer, a sophomore on the team. "There are high expectations of us. Our school expects us to win and, to an extent, so do the teams were playing against."

But despite its success in past years, the team will be facing opponents who have proven themselves to be tough competition, including second-seeded Temple University, and know not to take any team lightly, said head coach Mark Wesselink, who has been coaching women's tennis at UR for 20 years.

To help the team prepare both mentally and physically, Wesselink has incorporated a few non-traditional elements into the team's training routine, including a game of basketball. "We're awful at basketball," he said. "At this time of year, we've played a lot of tennis and you can only make your brain concentrate for so long. Mentally, they needed a change of pace so we decided to get running and hopefully have some fun while doing it."

The impromptu basketball games, along with body pump and spinning classes, have helped the team improve its level of fitness and will in turn make winning singles matches easier, said Hartmeyer.

Improved conditioning and workouts geared toward tennis is what has helped the team stay healthy this season, which has been one of the biggest changes from last year, said Wesselink. "Last year was kind of a roller coaster as far as health goes," Hartmeyer said. "Girls were getting sick with mono, colds, shin splints and quad strains, but this year has been so much better."

But health isn't the only thing the team has working in its favor. Strong team cohesion has helped the team not only win matches, but has also made the experience as a whole be more rewarding, Hartmeyer said.

Wesselink agreed. "I would compliment them on their ability to be a tightly knit team given the level of diversity," he said. "That's not easy and that's a big part of the team's success."

That success is also the result of the players' ability to pull through under the kind of pressure they'll be feeling this weekend, Wesselink said. "They're tired of us winning," he said. "The other teams are very hungry and it'll be up to us to match that hunger."

The Spiders' first game will be at 3:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of the University of Dayton vs. the University of North Carolina at Charlotte match.

Contact reporter Liz Aquilino at liz.aquilino@richmond.edu

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