Women's tennis setting records, looking forward to next year

05/06/05

By Ryanne Forcht,
Sports Editor

During the 2004 and 2005 spring seasons the Seton Hill Unviversity (SHU) Women's Tennis Team won, back-to-back, the American Mid-east Conference titles.

"We had the best season Seton Hill has ever had," said Julie Pokrifka,
sophomore.

However, at the regional tournament, played at Cedarville University in Ohio, the team fell to Walsh University in the semifinals despite a doubles victory by Marina Galiot, senior, and
Melissa Berg, freshman, as well as two singles victories by Candace
Bungo, sophomore, and Berg.

"I thought that we may have been overconfident. Walsh played differently, and we weren't compatible; we got frustrated," said
Ashley Harrold, senior.

Although the team came up short of a regional trophy, having lost to Walsh 6-3 at the Region 9 tournament, the season was seen as successful by Head Coach Tim Creamer and the players.

"The ladies deserve credit for their hard work; they haven't lost a
conference match in two years, and they even won the YWCA Women's
Sports Team of the Year Award," said Creamer.

Although the team will have three graduating seniors, Galiot,
Harrold, and Jessica Hamilton, Creamer has a positive outlook for next year.

"We're a young team, and the seniors will be hard to replace, but our recruits should be strong and the team should remain as strong overall," said Creamer.

Harrold commented on the teams' ongoing improvement within the last
two years, commenting on its improvement at regionals and an optimistic outlook for next year's team.

"Last year, at regionals, we played Walsh and lost 9-0; this year
we lost 6-3. Next year [with the new recruits], the dynamics will
change, but we [are] having good players coming in, so [the loss of the seniors] shouldn't affect how well they'll do next year."

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Posted by Setonian Online at May 6, 2005 10:02 AM