Ashland University’s men’s and women’s tennis teams tournament at the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcat invitational was unfortunately cut short due to weather conditions.

Even with the tournament being cut short, Head Coach Tim Dunford was excited to see how his team played, especially with seven new players.  

“The freshmen were nervous, but when the nerves went away, they played well,” said Dunford.

Before the rain ended their tournament the men’s squad was looking impressive. 

Freshmen William Rassat and Gabriel Seminario performed well with Rassat making his way to the semifinals of the A flight while Seminario was up 2-0 in the second set in the quarterfinals. Another freshman, Reid Opel, also made his way to the semifinals but in the G Flight.

“There were a lot of matches I was looking forward to watching like Rassat’s but I was happy with what I saw,” said Dunford.

Another semifinal appearance came from sophomore Omar Prince who made his way to the semifinals in the D Flight.

The women’s team saw freshman Ana Penteado, freshman Anna Corbel, and sophomore Claudia Adcock advance to the semi-finals as well. Penteado got to the semis in A Flight, Corbel in B Flight, and Adcock in C Flight.

The sophomore and freshman duo of Adcock and Corbel were able to make their way to the finals of the B Flight in doubles play.

In the future Coach Dunford hopes to bring in one more player to help out in doubles action. He also hopes to work on the team’s cohesiveness for future tournaments.

The team this season has become very personally bonded with each other. Dunford encourages his team to cheer and support each other when they are not playing a match. 

“We have a really good bond and we are always cheering for each other on the side,” said sophomore Kourtney Reed. “For me, I love the support from my teammates because it gives me more motivation and it is awesome to have that.”

Dunford encourages people to come and support the team this season by saying, “It really does make a difference to these players when they have a crowd to cheer them on.”

The men’s team steps back onto the court on Sept. 17 at the ITA Regionals in Indiana. The women on the other hand return to action on Sept. 24 in the ITA Regionals but in Grand Rapids, Mich.