Cowden serves as bright spot in loss to Goucher
Many sports fans have heard the cliché statement that the score didn’t reflect how the team played. For the Waynesburg women’s tennis team, that was just the case Saturday, when it traveled to Goucher College to face the Gophers. The Yellow Jackets lost the match 8-1; but according to head coach Ron Christman, the match wasn’t lopsided.
“I asked Rachael, ‘what’s going on here? I keep seeing you win points,’ said Christman of his number-one starter Rachel Klemash. “She told me she was just making mistakes at the wrong time.”
Klemash dropped her match to Goucher’s Amanda Bercovici, who was 9-1 for the Gophers in 2013, 6-2 and 6-0. Bercovici’s only loss of last season came in the quarterfinals of the ITA southeast regional.
Waynesburg also lost all three doubles matches by the score of 8-2 in each pro set.
“We tried to play aggressive and get to the net as soon as we can and try to end the point quickly so we didn’t have to get into a long rally with them” said junior Emily McDonald, who lost 6-1, 6-1 at third singles. “Most games went to deuce, but we couldn’t get a point to go up in deuce.”
Losing the doubles matches was just the start of the bad luck for the Jackets. Waynesburg also lost five of the six singles matches. The bright spot of the day however, came out of the number-six spot Lauren Cowden. Cowden edged Claire Donnelly 6-4, 4-6, and 1-0 (10-6), scoring the only team point of the match for the Jackets. Cowden also happens to be the only undefeated player on the Waynesburg’s roster at 3-0. Christman described Cowden’s match as a dogfight that was back and forth the entire time.
“I told [Cowden], ‘she’s setting up on that hard flat serve,'” said Christman. “Just put it over the net with a little spin and let it go and get into the point. The girl was so far back that the ball hit twice before she even got to it.”
Cowden was tied six all in the critical third set, and after the slight adjustment, she was able to run off the next three points and win the match.
“[Christman] told me to hit it really easy and I did, and she didn’t realize it was coming so slow and she missed it,” said Cowden. “I kept the ball in play, and waited for her to mess up. I had my serve working for a little, but then it went away”.
Cowden’s teammates Madison DuBrock and Ellen Limback were quick to react in support, stating that it was there the whole time.
“That is usually how I try to win – serve hard,” said Cowden.
The adjusted game plan worked out exactly how Cowden and Christman envisioned it, and the result was a win and point for Waynesburg. “When we left here on Friday, my anticipation was that it was going to be a tough match and that we had a shot at winning,” said Christman. The women’s tennis team fell to 2-1 overall on the season after the loss, while Goucher improved to 1-0. Waynesburg hits the road for two matches this weekend, beginning with Geneva on Friday in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference match-up and a non-conference match against Muskingum. The Jackets return home for another PAC match against Westminster Tuesday, which begins at 3:30 p.m.