USM women’s tennis team consisted only of six players and one new coach. Aside from being small, the team is also young, with four freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors. One of the juniors, Ashley Kirkpatrick (Sanford) is the only player who has returned to play for new head coach Lori-Ann Towle.
“Aside from the few matches that Ashley Kirkpatrick played in last season,” Towle said, “This is the first time each of these players has competed on the collegiate level.”
Another troubling factor for the team: injuries. Junior Sara Willey (Windham) was unable to play in her singles match against Colby College on Tuesday, September 12, after she injured her upper thigh. This was a bit of a set back for the Huskies, since she was ranked number two on the team. Freshman Heidi Graceffa (Calais) also complained of pain in her wrist during the match and after seeing the sports trainer came out onto the court with a taped wrist and forearm.
“When the players get down, I remind them to focus on the here and now,” Towle said. “I remind them that the score of the new set is 0-0. It’s anybody’s match.”
So far this season, the team has lost both of the matches, in two 9-0 sweeps, that they have played. But the players didn’t let their losses cut them down. Those who were no longer playing, could be heard cheering for their teammates. The team has yet to forget about support.
“We’ve done several team bonding activities during pre-season.” Towle said. There was the time they went to the apple orchard, the ice cream shop, had a cookout, their movie night and put up posters together around campus about joining their tennis team.
Towle added that the team has some areas they need to improve upon before they can move forward.
“We are looking to get our doubles teams to a point where they are playing more as a unit, and become more aggressive,” Towle said.
Towle may just be the coach that women’s tennis was looking for. She came to the USM tennis team with 27 years of experience both in coaching and in playing. She began playing the game at age six, and was an All-State player in high school. Towle went on to play tennis at Bowdoin College before she transferred and played for the USM team. While she was attending USM, she also served as director of the summer recreation tennis program and coached the varsity girl’s tennis team, both in South Portland. More recently, she served as the head coach of Women’s Tennis at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, for seven years, and coached the girl’s high school team at Columbia Independent School in Missouri. Towle also won the Missouri State Games Women’s Open Singles Championship in 2004.
With only nine players and plenty of time for adjustment and improvement, a 0-2 record may be quite deceiving in the end.
“Every match, I look for us to win more games than the last,” Towle said. “And eventually, with their hard work, we will see a W.”