Bowdoin's Women's Tennis Team opened the season on a roll. After a Spring Break trip to Hawaii, the team started the season with wins over Trinity and Smith, while dropping a match to Williams.
The team's season began over Spring Break in Hawaii, where it faced some strong competition in pre-season matches. The girls enjoyed good weather while working on their skills in preparation for the season.
"Those two weeks really prepared us for our intense spring season and being in Hawaii, experiencing the warm weather and tough competition, really fired us up," said captain Kara Perriello '06.
The Polar Bears opened the spring season against Trinity at home, playing indoors at Farley Field House due to wet conditions. Senior Lauren Gray had decisive wins in both singles and doubles, teaming up with sophomore Christine D'Elia to defeat Trinity's duo 8-4.
Perriello also had a strong showing in both singles and doubles, winning 8-6 with partner sophomore Kelsey Hughes. Bowdoin emerged victorious, defeating the competition 6-2.
In Bowdoin's next match, playing at home against Smith, senior captain Julia Shaver dominated Smith's Seiko Fujii. In two sets, Shaver won 6-0 and 6-1. During doubles play, she teamed up with Kristina Sisk '06 to win their match 8-5.
Sisk played in her first match since returning to the line-up after a month-long knee injury. The team is certainly stronger with her back in the rotation.
To close out the weekend, Williams, which was coming off a strong win at Colby visited Bowdoin for a match on Sunday. First-year Kristen Raymond has had strong performances all spring. She continued her dominance against Williams, winning her singles match by a fair margin and teaming up with D'Elia to defeat the opponent's number three team.
However, Bowdoin's girls were not able to cool down the red-hot Ephs. In a close match-up, the Polar Bears were defeated by Williams, 5-4.
The outlook is strong for the Polar Bears, with a three-day NESCAC tournament coming up at Middlebury, starting on April 29.
Bowdoin will be competing against all of the NESCAC schools for the right to achieve the top spot in the conference rankings.
Make sure to wish the women's tennis team luck in its hunt for the NESCAC crown.