With half of the season already over, the Colonels men’s and women’s tennis teams are just weeks away from the start of the Southland Conference championships in Arlington, Texas.The men’s team, in its second full year of play, has seen success with three victories so far this season, while the women only have one victory in the spring campaign.
Head coach Dominic Modise is pleased where his women are, and understands that as they progress in his system, the team will learn how to win.
“We have a lot of young girls, and they need to understand how to work together as a team,” Modise said.
The season started for the women at Central Arkansas where the team dropped its first match of the season 2-5. The road did not get any easier as the team would drop two more consecutive matches to Arkansas-Little Rock, 0-4, and Southern Miss., 1-6.
After a home match with Southern University was postponed, the Lady Colonels made their home debut against conference opponent Texas Pan American, but the team dropped the contest 2-5. Ten days later the team gained its first win of the season, defeating the University of Mobile 4-3.
“It was exciting,” senior Veronika Ramirez said. “It was difficult because of how short we are on players, but it was good.”
The team would drop five straight matches by the scores of 0-6, 0-6, 0-6, 0-7 and 1-6. “As a senior, it’s my job to be a role model for the freshmen to make sure they want to succeed in the future,” senior Dorian Robichaux said.
Only six more matches remain for the women’s team that plays Saturday in Lake Charles against McNeese. Then the team will have two home conference games versus Northwestern State and Louisiana-Monroe before traveling to Texas-San Antonio and Texas State, with the final game at home against Auburn-Montgomery.
With the early success the men’s team is having this year, Modise is looking forward to the future of his squad. “It’s good for the program, and a lot of teams don’t realize that we are here to play,” Modise said.
The men dropped their first two matches of the season to LSU and UALR 1-6, 1-6, but the next day the men gave Modise his first win as head coach and first win for the program in 27 years when they defeated St. Louis 6-1.
“We’re a lot better compared to last year,” senior Sebastian Normand said. “It’s only our second season, and I think that everybody is playing as well as they can possibly can.”
The team would drop its next three matches to ECU-Oklahoma, UTA and UTSA, before picking up its second win of the season at home against Texas-Pan America. In Lafayette, the men would lose to Louisiana-Lafayette, 0-6, but would shut out Southern at home 6-0.
As of late, the team is riding a four-game losing streak to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Iowa, Southeastern and Texas A&M with four matches left on the schedule. The men will travel to face Lamar, then return home to play Florida A&M only to travel the next day to play Southern Miss. The final game of the season will be at home against Auburn-Montgomery.
With only five players on each squad, one player less than most other schools have, Modise is confident that the message of team unity will find its way into the team’s mentality. “The one thing I preach is to keep fighting, because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.
