The women’s tennis team had their home opener on Wednesday Feb. 4 where they swept the courts 6-1 against Concordia University. Continuing this streak, they won 7-0 against Ottawa University on Friday, Feb. 6. With the season starting off strong, the girls are looking forward to building their team dynamic with different lineups and new players.
Junior health science major Alexis Romano is looking forward to growing their team bond this semester, and has noted how the spring semester always brings them closer together.
“Season has been peeking around the corner all of fall semester, it just felt so long for spring to come, but there’s so much to be excited for,” Romano said. “Just to see the team become closer at the end of season. I’ve experienced that both my freshman and sophomore year, like at the end of season, we’re all so close because we’ve seen each other at our ups and our downs.”
This season the team has eight players, two of which are freshmen. Romano says they are focusing on building strong double pairs and seeing which players work well together.
“We’re working on a lot of doubles this season,” Romano said. “Since we have new girls, we’re trying to figure out who works well with who. A lot of that is based off of chemistry and how well each girl can play, [and] which side is the best with each other. So, definitely doubles is something very crucial we’re working on this season.”
As a co-captain, Romano wants to ensure that the team is ultimately working together for the glory of God, and not [just] to bring glory to individuals. She says that since tennis is an individual sport, it’s easy to fall into the idea that you are playing for yourself.
“We’re playing for the school as a team, for God, and it’s our job as captain to remind our girls to do it for the sake of each other,” Romano said.
Keeping this principle in mind, Romano also encourages the team to keep up their energy throughout the season as it’s crucial to their success.
“There’s times when it is hard to keep up with that energy, doing it for the team, pumping each other up, even if it’s annoying and tiresome sometimes, we got to do it,” Romano said. “That’s the only way we’re going to get through tiring matches.”
For the women’s tennis team, it’s common to have several international players. This year over half the team is made up of international students, with players from Spain, Brazil, South Korea and Bulgaria.
Freshman psychology major Yeo Kyung Kim, who is an international student from South Korea, says that the United States is a desirable place for many tennis players looking to play during college.
“I really wanted to play in the United States. There are lots of differences between Korean universities and US universities. In Korean universities , if you want to play sports, they have to study about their sports, not other majors, but I wanted to study psychology,” Kim said. “In Korea, athletes don’t really focus on their academics, they only focus on their sport. But I didn’t want to do that, so that’s one of the reasons I came here.”
Despite cultural differences, the team has shown support for one another and have already demonstrated their success on the courts. Kyung noted the difficulty of being an international student, struggling with homesickness while also adapting to a new culture, but has already seen how Biola and her teammates have welcomed her along with other international students with open arms.
“I think Biola makes people really passionate for everything. So if you want to be really serious about what you want to work, I think Biola is a really good opportunity to work really hard for what you’re doing,” Kim said.
Excited to continue with their season, the team’s next match will be Friday Feb. 13 against Hawaii Pacific University, and their next home match will be against Point Loma Saturday, Feb. 21. Kim encourages students and faculty to come and show their support.
“We’re going to have a lot of home matches,” Kim said. “It’ll be really fun for lots of people to come and watch.”
