2002-03 News
The Wittenberg men’s and women’s tennis teams turned in another outstanding season in 2002-03 and competed well against top-notch competition in the North Coast Athletic Conference and the Central Region. Both teams played high-quality schedules and recorded winning dual match records before turning in strong finishes in the NCAC Tournaments.
Another banner spring sports season has reaped rich rewards for 51 Wittenberg University athletes who were selected to All-North Coast Athletic Conference teams over the last two weeks.
The Tiger women’s team concluded its 2003 season in almost identical fashion to the way it finished the previous two seasons - with a third place finish in the NCAC Championship Tournament. For the third straight year, Wittenberg placed behind perennial national powers Kenyon and Denison.
The Tiger women’s team played just one match last week, but even that was a big one against a quality opponent as Wittenberg prepares for the annual NCAC Championship Tournament. That competition, which features a dual match format, is slated for this weekend at Denison.
It was about as successful a week as a team can have. The Tiger women’s team won three North Coast Athletic Conference matches in three days, all on its home courts. The wins moved the Tigers back to .500 overall this season and 4-1 in the NCAC.
The Tiger women’s team continued its extremely difficult 2003 schedule last week, defeating NAIA scholarship program Ohio Dominican 5-4 on Wednesday before losing twice at nationally ranked Washington University on Saturday.
The Tiger women’s tennis team ended a long layoff with an 8-1 win at Wooster on Saturday. The Tigers swept the singles courts after winning two of three in the doubles competition.
The Tiger women’s tennis team has played against some excellent competition in 2003, including nationally ranked Kenyon, DePauw and Rhodes, NCAA Division II Ashland and NCAA Division I Evansville. The result is a slightly misleading 2-5 start to the campaign. The best singles record on the team is owned by senior Shannon Oliphant (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson), who has a 9-3 mark at No. 2 singles. In addition, junior No. 6 singles player Deana Nowakowski (Uniontown, Ohio/Lake) checks in with a record of 6-4 and sophomore No. 1 singles player Emily Figel (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) has a mark of 6-6.
The Wittenberg men’s and women’s tennis teams head into the 2003 season with high hopes, coming off twin third-place finishes in the NCAC a year ago. Both return most of their starting lineups, including top players Emily Figel (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) and Casey Clagett (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Steamboat Springs).
For the third straight year, the Wittenberg women’s tennis program hosted the Omni Hotels/Intercollege Tennis Association Women’s Division III Central Region Championship at the Albright Tennis Complex. Unlike last year, however, the home court advantage didn’t carry any of the Tiger players through to the championship match.
The 2002-03 tennis season got off to a rousing official start last weekend as the men’s team traveled to Greencastle, Ind. for the 2002 Omni Hotels/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s Division III Central Region Singles Championship at DePauw University. Both the Wittenberg men and women had hosted flighted tournaments at mostly Division I competition in previous weekends, but the regional tourney annually kicks things off for Division III teams.
The Wittenberg men’s and women’s tennis teams head into the 2003 season with high hopes, coming off twin third-place finishes in the NCAC a year ago. Both return most of their starting lineups, including top players Emily Figel (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) and Casey Clagett (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Steamboat Springs).