The IUS women’s tennis team hosted the Bellarmine Knights on Sept. 30.

The Grenadiers first faced the Knights at the DePauw Invitational earlier this season.

Rebecca Porter, Bellarmine women’s tennis assistant head coach, said they normally do pretty well when facing IU Southeast.

“It’s always really windy when we play here, so that kind of makes it harder to play each other,” Porter said, “but yeah, they’re usually good matches.”

Jenni Walters, IUS women’s tennis head coach, said, in order for her Lady Grenadiers to come out victorious, they needed to stay positive.

“In order to win this match, they need to not beat themselves,” Walters said.

Porter said her team was ready for this match.

“They just need to play like they always play,” Porter said. “We’ve been working really hard.”

The Knights executed their plan, and the Lady Grenadiers fell, 9-0.

Katherine Clark, accounting sophomore, said, even though they took the loss, she thought her team did better against the Knights this time around.

“We were more prepared this time,” Clark said. “At DePauw, it was just the beginning of our season.”

Clark said team bonding off the court has helped the Grenadiers grow better as a team.

“We communicate well,” Clark said. “We know our strengths and weaknesses.”

Katie Walsh, nursing sophomore and Clark’s No. 1 doubles partner, said the Grenadiers have grown really close.

“As a team, we’re really close, so I think that makes us strong,” Walsh said. “We all work together.”

Walters said she also thought her team played really well despite the upset.

“Especially in doubles, I was pleased with the performance,” Walters said. “We at least made them earn the win.”

However, Walters said this does not mean she did not think there were things the Grenadiers could improve on.

Walters said being aggressive in general is the key.

“We are definitely going to work on our net play,” Walters said. “That’s what I saw today we’re really lacking at.”

Walters said the Grenadiers not playing their own game caused them the loss.

“They’re a good team,” Walters said. “A lot of the time, when you’re playing somebody better, you try to hit the ball harder or place it a certain place, and then you end up making more errors.”

Porter said the Knights warming up and paying attention to the wind is what helped her team pull out the win.

“We made sure to do a good warm up,” Porter said. “We really kind of talked about the wind because that really effects where the ball goes.”

Right now, Walters said the Grenadiers’ main goal is winning conference.

“We are concentrating on our conference wins so we can go to nationals in the spring,” Walters said. “We need to not just win, but to crush our conference opponents, and we’ve done a fairly decent job of that.”

Clark said she and her teammates are hopeful for the remaining season.

“We’ve definitely improved as a team,” Clark said, “and we look forward to more W’s.”

By TAYLOR FERGUSON

Staff

tayfergu@ius.edu