lizabethtown College’s tennis teams were scheduled for a total of five matches between April 11 and 14. The women’s team had a match against Muhlenburg College on April 11 and another against Albright College on Saturday, April 13. The men’s team had to cancel their match against Muhlenburg April 12 due to weather conditions. The game had previously been rescheduled due to snow, and neither team could find a date to reschedule again. The men’s team also played against Albright April 13 and had another match against Goucher College Sunday, April 14.
Etown’s women’s tennis won its tenth match of the season, 5-4, at Muhlenburg. During the match, senior Kristi Noecker tied three six-year-old school records for singles wins, doubles wins and combined wins. All three records were originally held by Heather Lander ‘07. Noecker took her third singles match against Jennifer Goldberg in 13 games, 6-0, 6-1, to tie the singles and combined wins record. Earlier in the match, she and second doubles partner junior Adriana Scotto defeated Goldberg and Sharen Resnikoff, 8-4. Noecker is six wins away from putting a third 20-win season on her resumé. Etown also won third doubles, with sophomores Christine Evangelista and Kaitlyn Pellegrino taking down Muhlenburg’s Amanda von Taube and Gabriela Contino, 8-3, making it their sixth straight win. Noecker, Evangelista and Pelligrino took singles victories to make it 5-1 Blue Jays. Muhlenburg claimed victories in the final three singles matches.
The Blue Jays also came out victorious during their match against Albright. Noecker had another great match, beating all of her previously tied records. She set the new record for career singles wins with 69, doubles wins with 64, and combined wins with 133 total. All of the women, with the exception of senior Madison Pipkin won their singles matches. Pipkin won one and lost two of her three sets against her opponent Victoria Foanio. In the doubles competition the women’s tennis team crushed their opponents and won all three matches, each pair scoring eight points. Etown took the win with a total score of 8-1. “We’re ranked at the top of the conference and ranked ahead of our other opponents outside of the conference so we really want to play our best and prove our current ranking. This season we hope to get back to the conference playoffs and make another appearance at NCAAs, which is definitely possible if we keep playing like we have been,” Pipkin said.
The men’s team also won their match against Albright. They completely shut out their opponents taking a 9-0 win. Senior Josh Riehl won his 100th match during the game against Albright. This is the team’s tenth win for the season, and their fifth season straight with ten or more wins. “We took care of business,” senior Paul Whitman said. When it comes to the season, Whitman and Riehl both believe that the team has been prepared for anything their opponents have thrown at them. “Our practices, especially as of late, have been high energy and intense. We are focusing on our weaknesses, whatever they may be, and trying to improve them. We have figured out who we play best for in doubles too.” Whitman said.
“We practice a few hours every day,” Riehl said. “We’ve went to Hilton Head for a week to train as well. I think we’re just as prepared, if not more, than any other year. We have a bunch of guys here that are here to play tennis.” Like the women’s team, the men’s tennis team hopes to win the conference and make another trip to the NCAA playoffs.
The Blue Jays played Goucher on April 14 and took their fifth consecutive win and 11th win of the season. Seth Hoesman of Goucher defeated Riehl in the singles competition, while Etown took the win in the remaining six singles matches. When it came to the doubles competition, Whitman and senior Bill Freitag took the win over their opponents Pat Murnin and John Bescoby. Junior Cole Turula and sophomore Michael Cannon defeated opponents Cody Nelson and Seth Manfield. Riehl and senior Eric Fritzges lost to Goucher opponents Hoesman and David Spivey.
On April 16, the men took their 12th victory of the season over Hood College, 9-0. Fritzges grabbed his 111th singles win of his career, which puts him within reach of the College’s record of 116 singles wins. The Blue Jays look to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Commonwealth Conference Championships with a win over Messiah College this Saturday.
