The Waynesburg University women’s tennis team collected their first win of the season in a 6-1 win over La Roche on Sept. 22.

After dropping the first doubles point, the women won the second and third doubles, with junior Julia Corey and senior Claire Lace winning the second doubles, 6-3, and Waynesburg gathering a forfeit at third doubles. 

“We know the competition we faced over the last week with Allegheny was towards the top of the conference,” head coach Randy Pettit said. “All I asked of the girls is to go out and compete and keep the effort high. They are doing a great job of that this week.”

Both Corey and sophomore Karly Starcher added  6-0, 6-1 wins at No. Three singles and No. Four singles, respectively. In addition, freshman Julia Umshares won sets at second singles and junior Alli Bailey won sets at fifth singles. Waynesburg also collected two forfeit wins, one in singles and one in doubles.

“We prepared for this match just like the others,” Pettit said. “We looked to improve upon our last performance and work on our mistakes from the last match.”

Historically, Waynesburg is 5-0 versus La Roche, dating back to 2012. Before Sunday’s match, their last matchup was a 7-2 win over La Roche last year, with mostly the same roster. However, Pettit emphasizes the fact that each match is a new match.

“We can’t look at last year’s results,” Pettit said. “There is a lot of change to rosters, and we just have to go out and play our best match, a clean slate.”

The Jackets’ first win was preceded by many tough losses earlier in the year.

“Coach Pettit always says to have a short memory and move on to the best point,” junior Aubrey Burns said. “I think the best advice I’d ever been given was not to dwell on what you could’ve done in a match, but to focus on what you can do better for the next one, which we did.”

Waynesburg now sits at 1-4 on the season, 0-3 in conference play, while La Roche moves to 0-6, 0-2 in conference play. 

Waynesburg continues out of conference play on Sept. 24 when they travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. to take on Carlow at 6 p.m.