Courtsey of Brian Beard

Over the past two weekends, the women’s tennis team kicked off its season at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Invitational and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Regionals hosted at home on the Pickard Tennis Courts. The Polar Bears put on strong showings both on and off the court, earning impressive individual results across the board and winning two separate sportsmanship awards.

The team had a successful performance at the MIT Invitational, with Caroline Stuhlfaut ’27 advancing to the semifinals after wins over Tufts University (6–5, 6–0), MIT (7–5, 7–6, 10–4) and Amherst College (6–3, 7–5). Doubles pair captain Jamilah Karah ’25 and Isabella Hartung ’28 advanced to the finals after wins over Tufts (8–7) and MIT (8–5).

Julia Ross ’27 expressed enthusiasm for her team’s performance and what the results mean moving forward.

“I definitely want to continue sending a message to other schools through the fall season that we’re good, we have great energy and we’re going to be a hard team to beat in the spring,” Ross said. “I’m just excited to have another go at all these schools, hopefully get better results than last year and hopefully make our way to the NCAA tournament.”

This past weekend, the team hosted the ITAs at home, with players Stuhlfaut, Karah and Hartung reaching the round of 16 for the A draw. In the B draw, Zoe Sun ’27 competed in the semifinals and captain Candice Ballarin ’25 advanced to the quarterfinals. Additionally, doubles partners Stulfaut and Ross advanced to the round of 16 after defeating Brandeis University by a score of 8–1.

While the fall season promotes a much more individual style of play than the spring season, players emphasized their efforts to turn this individual game into a collective team experience. The Polar Bears’ sportsmanship and camaraderie has fostered a team bond that motivates them both on and off the tennis court.

“I think we have better energy than most other teams,” Ross said. “Knowing that your teammates genuinely care for you and want you to win—that’s something special to us.”

Karah echoed Ross in underscoring the power of team spirit. She contrasted her experience playing tennis at Bowdoin with her high school experiences with the sport.

“[In highschool], you feel like you only have yourself—when you’re playing bad, there’s no light. But in college … even if you feel like you’re not making a headway on your court, you’re still supporting a teammate, and they feel that. That really changes the tide,” Karah said.

The Polar Bears’ strong energy has been noticed by other teams. At the MIT Invitational tournament, Ballarin won the sportsmanship award and this past weekend, the entire team tied for the team sportsmanship award with Smith College.

Karah said that this sportsmanship award represented the hard work that the players have been putting into creating an uplifting and competitive team environment.

“[The award] goes to show what kind of team we are, who we want to be and how we want to be respected—both competitively and as players ourselves,” Karah said.

The tennis team frequently chants “GO U BEARS!”, not only as the classic Polar Bear chant but also to represent the team acronym that it’s created, signifying the players’ core values as athletes.

“G is gritty. O is optimistic. U is upstanding and unfazed. B is bold. E is energetic. A is accountable. R is resilient, and S is selfless. With everything we do, on and off the court, we try to uphold these as a team,” Ross said.

On October 5, the Polar Bears will compete in the annual Bowdoin Hidden Dual tournament to round out the fall season.

“We’ll be playing together as a team again, which should be more fun,” Ross said.