Lady Bisons struggle to rebuild young team Thewomen's tennis team had a rough but successful season with 15 wins and 10 losses. After losing some of their top girls last year, senior~ Julieta Gil and Cristina Rodriguez stepped forward and led the team. Other members of the team included junior Shelly Schaefer, sophomore Anil Aldaz and freshmen Hiroko Okamoto and Rachel Leonard. "Gi l was our number one player and Rodriguez was our number two player; both girls had a very good season," Coach David Elliott said. During the months of February and earlyMarch, the Lady Bisons caught fire as they won seven matches in a row, pushing their record to 9-2. Four times throughout the season the Lady Bisons skunked their opponents by a score of 9-0. The team was always looking to improve. "We had some good matches, like when we beat Missouri, which was the first time we had ever done that, " Gil said. "As a team, our season wasn't as good as it had been in 1996." Although it may have been difficult, the team went out and gave it a good performance each time. "I had my best match during this season and it felt so good because I knew that I played well ," Gil said. Rodriguez also had good Senior Julieta Gil slams the ball with a two-handed backhand. Gil finished the year ranked 42nd in the nation. • 212 ATHLETICS things to say about the season. "I did my best and I played as hard as I could; I almost won all of my matches." Although the team played hard, there was more to it than that - there was a real sense of camaraderie. "I like to go out and compete for my team as a school and I like to be with my teammates," Rodriguez said. Gil also liked the team spirit. "There was togetherness; we got alongverywell andwewere friends on and off the court." Schaefer said that she felt time together made the team closer. "We have been together for the past three years, so we know each other about as well as a person . could," she said. ''We never had times when we were not having fun together. " The team represented Harding with pr ide. "We were recognized as being from Harding because it is a Christian school. We were distinguished and that ::::::::~::~======1!;-;;:;;:;;:;:1=!1! was important," Rodriguez said. - "We stood out among the other non-religious schools." Elliott was a key element in the success of the team, Rodriguez said. "He always encouraged us to enjoy our matches; sometimes he was kind of hard, but he never let us feel bad if we lost." - Diane Grubbs
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