To begin their season, the Grand Valley State University women’s tennis team faced off both Davenport University and Ferris State University on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the Davenport Invitational. The team displayed dominance at their first games of the season, nearly sweeping both the singles and doubles matches.

Although the Lakers were able to show off their talents, the team’s practices have been unlike those in the past, as women’s tennis head coach Samantha Barr is on maternity leave. In her absence, assistant coach Martin Martov has filled in the role.

“I went from a part-time position as an assistant coach to handling everything that runs the team,” said Martov. “It was a small adjustment period and there was a lot of learning on the fly, but Grand Valley’s support has been so good, with other coaches and administration helping me out.”

On the courts, senior Estefania Hernandez and freshman Kalomoria Ralli started in the doubles matches. As a duo, they went on to win both of their matches together (8-5, 8-6). Both Hernandez and Ralli competed in one singles match, and although Ralli dropped her solo outing (6-2, 6-3), Hernandez came away with a win (6-1, 6-3).

“Our team’s mentality is very good,” said Hernandez. “We have four new freshmen and I think the team did a very good job stepping up. The number one thing was to support and help each other.”

After being named second-team all-conference in doubles last season, senior Neus Ramos and junior Rachel Sam also went on to win both of their doubles matches (8-4, 8-6).

In singles, Ramos split her matches ending 1-1, going (2-6, 6-4, 10-0) in her win, and (1-6, 6-1, 11-9) in the loss. Sam, who was an all-conference honorable mention last year, went 2-0, winning both of her contests (6-0, 3-6, 10-6) and (3-6, 6-2, 10-7).

“Our team is unified and resilient,” stated Sam. “We have all decided that we need to step it up to persevere through new challenges.”

Sophomore Vale Mozes, who is coming off being named Freshman Of The Year in the conference, went 1-1 in doubles, alongside junior Anna Soteras, splitting their matches (8-3, 8-3).

Being named second-team all-conference in singles, Soteras swept her two matches (7-5, 6-1) (6-3, 6-3), while Mozes lost her first match (5-7, 6-4, 10-8), but followed with a win (6-3, 6-1).

Lastly, the freshmen duo Ipek Sakiroglu and Nadia Rodenwalk stepped up as newcomers by winning their lone doubles match 8-2, as well as each winning both of their two singles matches. Sakiroglu won her matches (6-3, 6-3) (6-4, 6-1), while Rodenwald won hers (6-2, 6-2) (6-3, 6-2).

“The players are really self-motivated, which made things easier,” said Martov. “We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, and we have only been practicing for two weeks. We were able to dial in and focus as a team against tough competition. We really stepped up and the newcomers showed they have a lot of grit.”

With more practice time and the eventual return of Barr, the Lakers only look to improve and impress in their future matches.

The Lakers’ next competition, the women’s ITA’s, will conclude Monday, Sept. 16.