Waynesburg’s women’s  tennis team traveled to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where they took on the Saint Vincent Bearcats on Sunday, Sept. 15. They ultimately fell 6-1, but gained their first point of the season.

It was the second Presidents’ Athletic Conference matchup for the Yellow Jackets on the young season, coming off a 7-0 defeat against Franciscan on Thursday, Sept. 12. Though the results don’t show it, there have been many close, competitive games between the Yellow Jackets and their opponents.

Alli Bailey, a junior from Mount Pleasant, PA, earned the first point of the season for the Yellow Jackets. She won ultimately in a tiebreaker with scores of 6-4, 3-6, and 10-8.

“Honestly, just the experience of playing matches against other girls really made me a better player,” Bailey said. “I think my serves and ability to rally with my opponents have really improved.”

Julia Corey, a junior, and Julia Umshares, a freshman, both had competitive games, but fell 6-4 and 6-1 for both ladies. 

Although the record doesn’t show how competitive the matches are, Bailey expresses the importance of taking it match by match.

“Since I know that my skill level isn’t as high as my opponents, I don’t get that upset when I lose,” Bailey said. “I go into every match completely forgetting about the last one and don’t let myself be discouraged about the past.”

According to the women, head coach L. Randy Pettit is owed a lot of credit for his positive attitude.

“My coach makes tennis easily something I enjoy a lot,” sophomore Karly Starcher said. “He’s not too strict, but he also knows how we can be, and so he constantly pushes us but not too hard.” 

Waynesburg is now 0-3 (0-2 in PAC play), as Saint Vincent moves to 5-1 (3-1 in PAC play). Waynesburg hosts Allegheny for another conference match Sept. 19 at 4 p.m.