On Friday, March 18, the men’s and women’s tennis teams extended their losing streaks to three matches each, after losses to the Christopher Newport Captains.

The men (6-5) lost 1-8, while the women (5-7) fell 3-6. Sophomores Ben Nelson and Jody Cox earned the lone point for the men, topping juniors Thomas Whaling and Chris Yost 8-6.

The women tallied all of their three wins in singles play from first-year Anne Mogavero at fourth singles, senior Liz Killion at fifth and junior Mary Simpson at sixth.

“I’d like to see us play better,” said women’s senior and Co-captain Nina Bollag, after the loss. “But I think that we are playing the best we can with what we have.”

A reason for the Quakers recent struggles is bad health. For Friday’s loss and Saturday’s 6-3 win at Randolph, Bollag played through a pulled back, sophomore Adelaide Ayres sat out with an ankle sprain and first-year Natalie Sutton rested with the flu.

Despite overmatching the Randolph Wildcats, the Quakers were forced to forfeit two other matches for not having enough players. The win over the Wildcats lifted the Quakers to 4-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).

With three ODAC matches remaining, the Quakers are optimistic about what will follow Saturday’s win.

“(The win against the Wildcats) gives us some good momentum,” said senior co-captain Liz Killion.

Killion made a checklist of goals to accomplish by the end of the season, including finishing with a winning record, reaching eight wins and earning a good seed in the ODAC tournament.

The men’s team also won a lopsided match at Randolph 9-0, improving their ODAC record to 3-2. Junior Brandon Johnson credits the three-game losing streak, in which the Quakers played competitive teams and the win on Saturday, in helping the Quakers in the remaining five matches.

“Any practice is good practice,” said Johnson. “It’s tough losing three in a row. We need to play the way we are capable of playing, and not let the pressure of playing tough teams scare us. But playing these tough teams will give us much-needed experience as we reach the ODAC tournament.”

First-year and first-ranked Guilford men’s player, Tyler Mercier gained experience on Saturday in a heated match with junior Captain and nationally-ranked fourth, Eric Shulman. After three sets, a tiebreaker, countless winning shots, 10 bottles of water each, numerous debated calls, two line judges and countless anger-filled words, it was understood that neither player, if he had the chance, would save the other if abandoned on a stranded island.

Shulman prevailed to beat Mercier 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

“I was happy with the way I played in the third set,” said Mercier. “It took me until the second set to learn how to play (Shulman).”

Mercier said that he learned a lot from the match.

“Seeing different players, and how they play is great experience,” said Mercier. Once I see how the top guys play, I can learn how to play with them, and beat them.”

Mercier has confidence in how the Quakers will finish the season. “We should win all of our upcoming matches. If we improve in how we play in the next few weeks, we can earn a top three or four seed. “