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By Mitch Gilbert |
When playing at the Division I level, a player can never expect that during their senior year they will be playing with the same players they’ve been playing with since they were freshmen. The norm in college is players come and go, some graduate, some transfer and some quit. However, this is not the reality for the players on this year’s men’s tennis team.
Currently, the University of Portland roster consists of only eight players. Pepperdine, the leading school in the conference, has 12 on their roster while University of San Diego has 11 and BYU has 11. While the current Pilots’ squad is a bit undersized in comparison to the rest of the conference, out of the eight players on the Pilots’ roster, four are seniors: Alex Ferrero, Ratan Gill, Justin Guay and Michel Hu Kwo.
What the team lacks in size, they have managed to make up for in experience. They are hoping to use this overabundance of experience to improve upon the 10-12 record they posted in the 2012-13 season.
“We have four seniors who have been playing here for all four years, so we are all very close,” Ferraro said. “For our four seniors it is like a family to us, at least it is for me. I am from overseas, so these three guys especially have helped me out a lot throughout these four years.”
Ferrero believes that this level of team unity can really be beneficial and used as strength for the team throughout the upcoming season. The ability to communicate and understand the way that their teammates think can be used to produce strong results on the court.
“We know each other so well at this point that we know when somebody is mad, or we know when we have to help somebody,” Ferrero said. “But, besides competing, we are also able to have a lot of fun.”
Half of the team has spent their last four years together and in that time they have managed to become good friends both on and off the court.
“We are a really close team. Everyone is friends with each other, and we all trust each other,” Guay said. “Some friction can hinder morale and our morale is high. We feel motivated that we will be able to do well.”
Last season was plagued with injuries for multiple players. Gill, the number-one singles player on the team, was out for a majority of the season due to a shoulder injury. Ferrero, currently a member of the team’s number-one doubles team (along with Gill), has been suffering with injuries to his shoulder and back. With such a small number of players on the roster, an injury to a key member of the team could be devastating to the season.
“I just hope to stay healthy and play every single match this year,” Ferrero said. “It is hard because you will go into practice and your back will be sore. When it comes to match time you aren’t as in it because your back hurts and it is all that is in your mind.”
After a difficult season last year, going only 2-7 in conference play, the team has its mind set on earning the respect of the teams within this daunting conference. Over the years, Pepperdine has dominated the WCC, winning a conference championship 42 times in the school’s career. The next closest school, USD, has won the championship a total of 3 times. The Pilots have never managed to win the WCC championship. Their best finish was third place in 1999.
“We need to stay confident and believe that we can beat those teams,” Guay said. “Especially this year with four seniors, we have the skill. We just need to make sure that we play with the confidence to back it up. We just need to do what we do in practice.”
The Pilots’ next home match will be on March 9 against the University of Oregon at 2 p.m.
