Captain's Log with Lindsey Howard: Let the Countdown Begin
2/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Captain's Log with Lindsey Howard
FRIDAY, FEB. 13 -- Let the Countdown Begin
Last Thursday, the team piled into vans and headed for South Bend, Ind. Can you believe that this marked my fourth trip to Fighting Irish territory! We earned a big 4-3 win over Notre Dame at home last year, so we were really looking forward to returning to Ann Arbor with a victory this season. Unfortunately, we fell short of our goal and lost a tough 4-3 match on Friday. We lost the doubles point, which put an enormous amount of pressure on the team going into singles. We split the singles matches, with Rika, Whitney and Denise putting three points up on the board for Michigan. We are currently ranked No. 18 in the nation, and once we overcome our struggle with winning the doubles point, I think that we will have a chance to beat some really good teams!
A very good friend of mine and former teammate, Tanvi Dudhela, also made the trip down to South Bend to spend time with the team and support us during our match. It was amazing how normal it was to have her there! It was just like old times. She was our Super Fan and it was great to have her around.
We returned to the Varsity Tennis Center on Sunday and competed against Yale. The doubles point was decided with a win by Chisako and Tania at No. 1. Rika made her debut at No. 1 singles and played some incredible tennis, and we also had wins at all of the other singles positions. We had a great crowd at the match, so I want to thank everyone for coming out! Your support brings a lot of energy to the Varsity Tennis Center and really gives us an advantage in those close matches! Danielle Lund McNamara, Yale's head coach, is a former Michigan tennis player. I had the chance to meet her and play with her during our alumnae weekend back in November, so it was nice to see her again! She took her team to Cottage Inn and the U-M hockey game to show them what Michigan is all about!
Rika was named the Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, marking her first career honor. She went 4-0 on the weekend and defeated the nation's No. 39-ranked singles player from Notre Dame. Congratulations Reeks!
This season our team will be heading down to Miami for Spring Break to play the Hurricanes. I'm really looking forward to some time off from class, but I'm most excited for the hot Florida weather, the sun and the beach! Ronni previously coached at Florida International and lived in Miami, so hopefully she has some fun activities in store for the team. The countdown is on ... eight more days!
Players Mentioned
