April 29, 2013
Farewell to Cedarville Athletics
Brooke, Lyndsay and I had a long week of "lasts" as we finished up the 2012-13 tennis season. Our last home match was last Monday against Central State. The three of us were presented with a yellow rose in blue ribbon with kind words from Coach Morris before the match. It was a beautiful day for tennis with blue skies and warm wind and we won on our home courts 9-0.
Tuesday was our last practice together and Wednesday was the last Bible study! We had a very good celebration and recollection of the ways we have seen God work in our lives over the past year. Brooke and I were both in tears at some point during the evening. As much as we are excited for the next stage of life, Bible study with the team has meant a lot to us and it is hard to see that door close behind us as we pursue new things to come.
On Thursday, our team traveled to Marion, Indiana to play Spring Arbor from Michigan at IWU. We knew that we had to win that match to play on Friday against Indiana Wesleyan. We played some very tough windy matches against this previously unknown team and were thrilled to pull off five points to win 5-2! After dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, we relaxed and studied at our hotel in preparation for Friday’s match.
We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day for tennis on Friday! The weather was perfect and there was miraculously no wind. We have always loved playing IWU because they are a solid team athletically and in character. Maryssa and I won our doubles match after making a great come back in the last couple of games. Singles was a little tougher but everyone was fighting hard on the court. We lost 8-1, but overall everyone was very happy with how they played and a little in shock that our season was over.
Sunday was our final end-of-the-year celebration at Cathy Miller’s house. Coach, Cathy and Becky made a wonderful spread of food and we really enjoyed being all together as a team for the last time this year. Brooke and I got all of the girls gag gifts pointing out little quirks or inside jokes that we had as a team over the year. It was a lot of fun to see the surprised faces with each of the gifts and we all laughed a lot. There were also many awards to be handed out and we presented coach with a Tennis Encyclopedia with notes from all of us.
This past week with the matches, travel and party was a perfect ending to four years of commitment and hard work. Being on the tennis team has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my college years athletically, emotionally and spiritually. It has been amazing to be surrounded by godly women who love living passionately and faithfully for the Lord.
I have been very thankful for the guidance and encouragement of Coach, Becky and Cathy over the years and definitely hope to stay in touch. I have been very blessed to have participated on the Cedarville women’s tennis team and am happy that all of the awards and T-shirts that I have acquired over the years will be a constant reminder to me of how God has gifted and blessed me during my time at Cedarville University.
April 22, 2013
Senior Banquet Added to the Usual Sweatiness
Brooke and I enjoyed a wonderful banquet on Monday evening, sponsored by the athletic department for graduating seniors. Coach, Becky and Drs. Cliff and Pam Johnson were there to celebrate with us and enjoy an excellent meal. We had fun taking pictures and mingling with other athletes. After the meal, each team was honored and seniors were gifted with pictures of us performing in an athletic competition. Action shots never look the most flattering, but they are wonderful to have for good memories!! I was also very surprised by being honored with the Don and Nedra Callan Sports Ministry Award. I had never met the renown Dr. and Mrs. Callan, so it was an honor to be greeted by them and to get a picture afterwards. The whole evening was a lovely finishing touch to our four years of playing for Cedarville University.
The rest of the week rushed by in a blur. Our match and practice were cancelled on Tuesday due to some pretty incredible spring thunderstorms. Wednesday was a very thoughtful Bible study at Becky’s house and we enjoyed crackers and cheese. Thursday, we had a very windy practice with winds at 30 mph (much stronger than anything we could play a match it). But even though the practice was not the most effective, it was a beautiful day and the wind was warm.
On Friday, we smoked Ursuline again 9-0, but were also able to have some good conversations with the girls on that team. Emma had an epic match and won in a third set super tiebreaker, scoring our ninth point. We celebrated at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Though it was not the most rigorous tennis week, our team had lots of quality time together.
We are entering our last week of the season now and are looking forward to our matches against Central State, Spring Arbor and hopefully Indiana Wesleyan.
April 15, 2013
Three Victories against Four Opponents!
This past week was very exciting for our team as we beat two teams that had stomped us last year! Our Wittenberg matches are traditionally windy, and this year was no exception. In the past we have had decently close matches with them but they have proven the better team. This year however, we took them on and won a solid 7-2! A couple matches were close and challenging, but in most of the singles matches we smoked them. Windy matches are challenging because they add an additional opponent. The wind likes to mess up serve tosses, push excellent shots out of bounds or in the net, and makes lobs more risky. If played well, however, the wind can be mastered to our advantage…and many of us were able to do this by adjusting our shots and keeping our feet moving even more than usual. It was a beautiful day and an excellent confidence boost for our team. After cancelled matches on Saturday and Monday, we were very eager to play.
Due to weather, our Thursday match versus Central State was postponed. But we got to host Bethel (from Indiana) for our Friday match. This team beat us last year 5-4 and so we knew they would be good competition. We had another windy match to deal with but we were very prepared for that. Doubles was close, with a solid win at #2 and a stellar come back for Joy and Brooke at #1. Maryssa and I had a very close match and lost in a tie breaker of 7-4. So starting singles we needed three more points to win and we got them at #4, #5, and #6. Everyone played well and we were ecstatic to have that show in a win!
On Saturday, most of our team traveled to play Ursuline. Coach graciously let Brooke and I attend the Junior-Senior Banquet, so we were not present for the match. Joy injured her foot on Friday, so she was not at the match either. However, even with three of us out of the line up, our team swept Ursuline away with a score of 9-0. It was a great tennis week for our team, despite the uncertainty of cancellations and less then optimal conditions. We are hoping that the weather holds up in order for us to play Ohio Dominican at home on Tuesday and at Ursuline on Friday.
April 9, 2013
Rain, Rain, Go Away…come again, NEVER!
Our home match against Central State University last Thursday was our first conference match of the season. It was exciting to have a match outside on our home courts and to also to win so confidently. We scored 9-0 against this team and everyone in our line up got an opportunity to play either in doubles or singles. Though it was not a particularly challenging match, it was wonderful to have the support of friends and family at our match. The Herberts and Heydts cheered us on to victory!
Friday we were again able to enjoy being outside, but we were all disappointed that our Saturday match was cancelled. We were supposed to play in Spring Arbor, Michigan, but the weather was too unpredictable to risk the four-hour trip north. Our match on Monday against Indiana Wesleyan was also cancelled because of forecasted thunderstorms.
We miss our indoor facility at the old Springfield Racquet Club. Thankfully, we will still be able to have practice in the field house, even though we cannot play matches in there.
The matches remaining for this week are against Wittenberg, Central State (again), Bethel and Ursuline. So, if there are no more cancellations, we should be able to get our fill of tennis matches in. Wittenberg is usually a tough team, so we plan on bringing our best to the court on Tuesday!
Praying for good weather so that we can play, after working so hard for the last couple of months in the off season.
April 3, 2013
Field house matches with no nets are quite the experience. On our first day back from Easter break, we took off to Tiffin, in northern Ohio. We knew that we were going to be playing on indoor courts but did not know that the courts were going to be in the middle of an indoor track with no netting around it.
Honestly, a lot of us struggled to not be discouraged with the conditions. The poor lighting, unpredictable surface and constant running all over the place for balls was tough but for the most part we played well. We lost 5-4 to Tiffin but were able to spend quality time with teammates and the Herbert and Paul families who came to watch our match. It was a very memorable experience to be competing out of our element and gave me a lot of appreciation for our wonderful facilities and coach’s insistence for good quality in competition venues.
Before the match this week, we were also able to finalize our doubles and singles line ups, just in time for competitions. We are ready to hit the rest of our season with excitement and endurance. I’m so thankful for the amazing Bible studies and good team bonding times that we have together. These times enable us to support each other on the court and in the rest of life. Bible study’s at Becky’s house are a great respite from the craziness of the season and a great time to center on our relationships with our Lord and each other.
We are looking forward to playing Central State University on Thursday and then traveling up to Michigan to play at Spring Arbor on Saturday.
March 25, 2013
Snow Day!
Well….this semester wins for the most snow during tennis season. Fortunately the snow is beautiful and school was delayed today but unfortunately this means that we are back to practicing in the field house for another week. We currently have about three inches of snow and it is almost April….ridiculous!
We have actually had very few outdoor practices since spring break due to the extreme cold or the rain. Thankfully, our opponent for the match this past Saturday had available indoor facilities. We drove up to play the University of Findlay on Saturday morning and came back with a 6-3 win! We claimed two of the doubles points and then slowly won the next four in singles. Both Lily and Joy played full third sets, both of which were very close and very exhausting. It felt so great to start out the Midwest part of our season with a solid win.
This week we continue to practice and solidify our lineup and then will be consistently playing matches after Easter until the end of the semester.
Hopefully the snow melts quickly!
March 19, 2013
More terrifying than matches….
…is standing in front of the entire student body in chapel!! Every season, Dr. Brown recognizes the teams who will be representing Cedarville University through athletics. All of the spring sport teams were brought up on stage on Monday, including our team, to be prayed for by Dr. Brown and our campus community. It was fun to stand together as a team and to be reminded that we represent our Lord, our teammates, and our university when we perform on the court. Unfortunately, only five of us were able to make it to chapel (due to work, clinical and student teaching schedules) so we were an itty-bitty team on stage.
Other than that, we are waiting for the rain to stop so that we can get on the courts more consistently. Thankfully we have indoor courts and extra time to work on individual fitness, but it will be nice to be outside regularly. We have had one day of challenges matches outside but need a couple more good days before our matches this weekend.
We have a solid, deep team, which can make challenge matches tough since a lot of us are very close in skill set and everyone is extremely qualified to be in the line up. So far our matches against each other have gone well and I am very thankful for a supportive team with good attitudes about playing each other.
We are all enjoying our time together now and looking forward to warmer weather and an awesome season!
March 12, 2013
Sunburns, Tears, Laughter and Victory
The last half of our Spring Break got tougher and sweeter! The more matches we played, the more tired and sunburned everyone became. But we saved the best for last and won both of our Thursday matches against Simpson College and Bethel University. A number of us won or lost in tiebreakers against Berry College on Wednesday, so the loss does not do the match justice.
Personally, I lost two back-to-back singles matches (against Berry and Simpson) in tiebreakers for the third set, and might have shed some tears of disappointment and exhaustion afterwards. Tennis can absolutely be emotional and physically draining and I am so thankful for a wonderful team that rallies around and supports each other through loss and victory!
Some favorite times from this week in addition to playing include hanging out with the CU men’s team and watching their matches, eating a Ghirardelli ice cream meal at downtown Disney, group pictures, swimming, watching YouTube videos and wanting to roll out of Olive Garden after stuffing our faces on Thursday!
We were constantly serenaded with "Titanium" by Lilly and Emily or Courtney’s loud music and were kept laughing by Joy and Jessie. The guys’ team is also hilarious and we enjoyed meeting other tennis teams staying at our hotel as well. I’m very thankful for Coach’s hard work to make this spring experience so enjoyable for all of us, for Becky Kuhn’s cooking and support of Coach and for Cathy’s willingness to hang out and be an encouragement to us all! It was really a great week and we are now back at the ‘Ville safe and sound.
We are ready to start our main spring season…if it ever stops raining!
March 5, 2013
Tennis Team in Florida!
Tennis tradition for our team demands a grueling southern bound trip to Orlando, Florida for a week of tennis over spring break! However, despite how horrible that sounds, our team has been having a blast ever since we left snowy Ohio. We arrived to our sunny destination on Saturday and spent the rest of the day settling, catching up on lost sleep and remembering what it is like to be outside without a winter parka.
Sunday, we visited First Baptist of San Lando and were introduced by the pastor as the world champion tennis team from Ohio. As the only people under 25 of age in the entire service, you can imagine how much attention we enjoyed that morning. Then on Sunday afternoon, we were finally able to get on the tennis court for our first practice in the sun since October. Heavenly!!
Monday morning was our first match against Martin Methodist College, hailing from Tennessee. We played tough but lost by a 5-4 final. It was a close match, even though they have a high ranking in their NAIA conference. We were able to get the rust off of our tennis game as well as adjust to new doubles partners or singles positions. From here out, we will just be getting better!
Then men’s tennis team from Cedarville is also here for spring break. This is their first time at this hotel and park and we have loved visiting with them this week. On Monday, we were able to cheer on their match with Aquinas… but we left the match early to eat ice cream…..which was also wonderful by the way because it was Coldstone!
So, all that being said, Florida has been amazing for our team! We enjoy matches, Bible study, eating and hanging out together and are excited for the rest of our time here!
October 9, 2012
Bye for Now!
Last week was our final match of the fall season. It has gone by so very fast!! The leaves are turning bright colors and the nights are cold, but it still does not seem like it should be fall this soon. We conquered our last match this fall against Wilmington with an 8-1 win. Our opponents only had two doubles teams and a #5 singles but we did a team mix up so that almost everyone got to play. It was great to have the match on our courts again and to be joined by Cedarville friends and the Diamond family.
On Wednesday, the traditional mixed doubles match with the men’s team will be icing on the cake! We will be split into a blue and a gold team and each match will be a point for that team. Last year the competition was close and it was a great time of community and competition. After the match, I’m hosting the team at my off-campus house for dinner and more fellowship. The weather is supposed to be beautiful…though not necessarily warm.
Now that our season is over, we will rely on our Bible study on Wednesday nights to keep us bonded as an entire team. Last week we had a really good devotional and discussion time on prayer. We were challenged by the verses in James 4 which warn about praying for wrong motives or personal pleasure. As a team, we want to submit our lives and prayers to the Lord and draw closer to Him together. I’m very blessed to be with a group of godly women who can challenge me to be more Christ-like in my friendships, schoolwork and tennis competition!
This season of preparation for our spring season should be a good one!
October 1, 2012
Indiana Days
Our team played two matches last weekend in Indiana. We played Indiana Wesleyan University on Friday. We have played this team twice a year for as long as I have been on the team and have a good relationship with this team. They have a solid program, and though we often have some close games and matches against them, the score is usually 9-0 in their favor. This year however, we came away with two points!! Our #3 doubles team, Courtney Heydt and Emma Rahn, won and Maryssa Herbert won at #6 singles in a very long match that lasted longer than two of our other matches (literally)! We were very happy for those humble victories! And it was great having the Johnson family at our match to support Brooke and our entire team.
After our match, we traveled to Huntington to spend the night there. Our match against Huntington University was the next morning at the early hour of 9 a.m. We started this match with singles and ended singles with a tie at 3-3. This meant that we had to win two out of three doubles to bring home the victory. All of the doubles matches were incredibly close! Courtney and Emma battled at #3, securing our fourth point and Lilly and I won our fifth point with a set score of 8-6. Very high adrenaline matches with multiple stressful match points. Coach calls us her “cardiac kids” because of how close we let that match get. Meanwhile, #1 doubles were fighting for their point but lost in a very tough match. Our overall score was 5-4 and we got to celebrate with the cookies that Maryssa’s parents brought for us! We then headed back to Cedarville and watched the gorgeous fall colors fly by.
Fall is a wonderful, refreshing time of year and I am sad that our season is almost over already! We have one more home match 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at home against Wilmington and then some possible fall festivities with the men’s team once our seasons are both completed. Thank you all who prayed for us on our travels!
September 24, 2012
Windy Wins
Our team accomplished two more wins during last week! We played Otterbein on a very windy Tuesday. This has been a tough team to play in the past and we have a history of a couple of wins and a loss against this school. Furthermore, our line up was changed significantly this year. Myself and Joy Dice both had once a week evening classes (three very long hours of lecture) that we could not miss because of upcoming tests, and so after doubles we both had to leave. This put extra pressure on everyone to win points. We had three tough doubles matches and squeaked out two wins! This gave us the advantage for singles. Joy and I left for class as the rest of the singles were heading to the courts. But we did win the much needed #3 singles that evening…leaving us with the close match win of 5-4!! Everyone of those points was needed and everyone held their own on the team.
Thursday, we traveled to play Ohio Wesleyan University’s team, near Columbus. It was a another very windy day…even worse than the previous match. The wind is a big challenge for tennis players! Everyone has had that moment where you make a perfect high shot and literally watch the wind pull your ball out of bounds. This can happen many time in one game unless you adapt your strategy. This requires being able to switch the power and spin of shots between sides of the court (depending on the wind direction). The game is still fair because both players will play on each side of the net, but there you have a good advantage if you can play in the wind better than your opponent. All that to say…it was windy! And we won 9-0!! Good victory!! And we had good celebration sweets since Maryssa Herbert’s grandparents came to support our match and they brought us amazing home-made cookies! If you haven’t figured this out yet…the way to tennis players’ hearts are through their stomachs. Coach can testify!
September 17, 2012
Road Trip Week
We spent a lot of time on the road this past week! On Tuesday we traveled about an hour and a half one way to play Indiana University-East. Because they only had five players, they had to forfeit #3 doubles and #6 singles. It is definitely weird starting off a match with that kind of advantage, but it was a confident decisive win anyways as we earned seven victories. An absolutely adorable family of raccoons peeked out at us from their roof-top perch near the courts. Their cute faces were quite distracting for watching matches and were probably a highlight of the match!
On Thursday, we practiced on our home courts and did some more challenge matches to get the perfect combinations of doubles and the strongest singles line-up. This is always an exhausting process that is still not completed since we never seem to get enough court time in the fall. Patience and prayer for good attitudes are very necessary during challenge matches!
Friday morning, we left campus at 10 a.m. for the long haul to Kentucky to play Brescia (an NAIA school). This was our first long road trip and it was kind of nice to get into a five-hour rhythm of chat, eat, sleep, study, chat, eat, sleep, study. We even got some adorable sleeping pictures of clueless teammates! Upon arrival at Owensboro, Kentucky, we warmed up and prepared to play Brescia. It was a beautiful fall day and the weather could not have been better for tennis! We won 9-0 against this previously-unknown team! Lilly and I squeaked out a win at #2 doubles with a score of 9-7 and Brooke won her singles match in a mentally and physically challenging tiebreaker! It was so sweet to get both of those points and to cheer on teammates!
After our match, we had an amazing dinner at Olive Garden before heading for our hotel. The next day, Saturday, we traveled once again to play the University of Southern Indiana, a Division II team that beat us 9-0 last year. It was a tough match but we held in there with them very well! The final score was our loss at 7-2. Lilly and Maryssa scored our two points but all of the games were well played! Since their team was also large, all 12 of us got a chance to play both singles and doubles. That was a huge blessing and a lot of fun for everyone. After a long, satisfying match and a late lunch at Chili’s, we made the five-hour drive back to Ohio.
We are very thankful for safety on the road and courts this past weekend. And a special thanks to Norris, our faithful bus driver, for all of his hard work and joyful presence on our trips!
September 10, 2012
Lovin’ Our Team!
This year’s Lady Jacket women’s tennis team is the strongest yet in my four years at Cedarville. Lilly and Brooke will be playing #1 and #2 and are both good enough to be leading our team at #1. Our team has never had as much depth as it has now with no real drop off anywhere on or off the line up. We will be very competitive and hopefully it will show as we play well-established NCAA Division II teams.
We played our long-standing competitors, Shawnee State last Thursday. We won handily with 9-0 and everyone on our team contributed directly to the score on the court. This is incredible, considering that we have 12 on the team this year! Not everyone will be able to play every match, so it was great that we all got that opportunity to compete and did extremely well. Both Courtney and Jessie started off their college tennis careers with personal victories. Courtney won at #3 doubles with myself as well as at #1 singles. Jessie scored our team her first point at #6 singles. We are proud to have them on our team…and not only for their tennis abilities!
Unfortunately, our match on Saturday got cancelled due to questionable weather. Our next match is Tuesday at Indiana University-East. I don’t believe we have ever played them before, so it will be fun to meet their team and coaches and perhaps make a good impression for Christ there.
We hope that new opportunities in a new division will help us and all the other Cedarville teams, spread the gospel to other school and athletes. We would greatly appreciate prayer as we finalize our line up for this year, travel to our matches, enjoy each other’s company and spread the joy of Christ! Thanks so much for your interest and support of our team.
Thanks for believing in us!
September 3, 2012
New turquoise tennis t-shirts and new teammates are adorning the Cedarville courts this fall! Our team welcomed freshman Jessica Finfrock and transfer sophomore Courtney Heydt this season and challenge matches have been in full swing. We also kick started a Bible study on prayer with Cathy Miller on Wednesday evenings. A Young’s Run was also necessary in order to celebrate our August birthday girls. We enjoyed bonding as a team, eating ice cream, petting goats and taking pictures in the sunflowers!
Our fall season competition begins this Thursday in a match against Shawnee State at 4 p.m. We will be playing Taylor University at noon on Saturday of this week as well. The Taylor match is with the men’s team as well, so it should be quite the party!
We are anticipating a fast and furious fall season this September and are excited to have a place in Cedarville’s first season as a full-fledged member of NCAA Division II.
Melissa Stoltzfus is a Dean's List student as a senior majoring in psychology from Newberg, Ore.
