The IUS Men’s and Women’s tennis teams faced off against Berea College on Sunday September 25. Each team went on to win their matches 9-0 making them 1-0 this season.

Each player for both IU Southeast came out of the match with a win for their team. Senior Jonathan James was able to pull of a great win at #1 singles and helped set the tone for the rest of the team. Senior Bryson Mills picked up two wins at the match with one being at #2 doubles and the other #4 singles. Freshman Brock Winchell made his first home appearance of his collegiate career and came off with two wins. “We played pretty solid” says Brock, “We got all of our returns back in play and that was pretty much all we needed to do.”

For the Women’s team, they too ended up sweeping Berea with a 9-0 led by Junior Dana Frank at #1 singles. When asked how it felt to pick up a win today Dana said, “It felt really nice, I’ve sorta been struggling lately so it felt nice to break through that and actually win a match.” This was the first win of the season for the women’s team making them now 1-0.

This was the first home match for the Fall season for both teams. “It is always extremely important, we just want to make sure come out and get to use everything we have been working on in practice these past couple weeks” said Head Coach Joe Epkey when asked how important it was to open their home season with a win, “It helped kind of set the tone of how we want the team to play.” This was not only very important for the coaches but also the players to pick up a win for their home opener. “It was the first home match of the season, so it felt good to get out there and just get it rolling,” said Bryson Mills, “It helped introduce the freshman to what college tennis is like.”

This was a great way to start off the fall season and can help build the confidence of each team going into the rest of the season. When it comes down to it, each team has one goal in mind, and that is to win conference. When Coach Epkey was asked about his expectations for the season he said, “Always to win conference. That is always our main goal, to win the regular season and go on to try to win the tournament.” Junior Dana Frank also has a goal to see how they match up against their main rivals in Asbury University. “We play one of our biggest rivals in Asbury a couple more times this season so hopefully we do well against them,” said Dana.

This match was just the first of many this season as each team looks to move forward as the season goes on. The men’s team looks to carry this momentum over to their next match against Hanover College on September 29. The women’s team will be playing their next match on October 1 against Oakland City University.