Regenold and Miller compete in fall season’s final match, fall to a Toledo pairing in opener
And just like that, it was over.
At the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional in East Lansing, Mich. last Friday the only remaining Braves were the doubles pairing of junior Emily Regenold and sophomore Nicole Miller.
The two weren’t around for very long.
The pair opened the day by dropping into the consolation bracket following an 8-1 loss to Toledo’s doubles team of Martina Woszinski and Maha Guirguis, who would go on to lose to Northwestern.
Miller said although they didn’t play to their full potential, their play was better than it looked on paper.
“We played two real tough teams,” she said. “Our scores didn’t show how well we played.”
The fall season that saw Bradley travel all around the Midwest to tournaments in Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, came to an end for Regenold and Miller, and the rest of the Bradley team, later that day in the form of an 8-0 loss to Paolo Calderone and Christina Ruiz of Marquette.
Despite the season ending losses, coach Scott Petersen has considered the fall, traditionally a developmental season for the spring, an overall success for the Braves, one in which he was able to solidify his doubles line-up for spring.
He cited the tough schedule and number of three-set battles against schools from much larger conferences, such as the Big Ten, as a sign the team played well, elevating their game to compete with the better teams.
Petersen said he was unable to name one player as the biggest surprise of the season, praising the effort of the entire team.
“It really depends on the tournament,” he said. “We saw great breakthroughs from different people. One of the biggest things was that we lost nobody from last year’s team and added one more [freshman Veronika Wojakowska], and they really came together as a more cohesive team.”
Petersen said he was also pleased with the contributions made by all members of the team.
“We really got tougher on the bottom of our team, which takes pressure off the top players,” he said.
After playing in four tournaments since the middle of September, the team has a three and a half month hiatus from competition before play resumes for the crucial spring season in February.
Petersen said he will stress off-season training and focus on continued improvement and the importance of player specific workouts to eliminate flaws.
“Each player has different things to work on, such as ground strokes, footwork and positioning,” he said. “It really depends on level of experience – freshmen need to work on some things, juniors on others. One of the main things is getting used to your doubles partner and continuing to improve as an individual player.”
The spring season is the more important of the two, and features several interesting dates, including match-ups against Oakland, Cal. State-Bakersfield and Southern Utah that all take place in Las Vegas.
Spring also marks the start of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule, half of which Bradley plays at home.
The Braves begin the spring season on Feb. 8 against the Valparaiso Crusaders, in Valparaiso, Ind.
