Lady Lion Tennis defeats Bradley before falling to Gonzaga

Dasyonne Brashear and Chase Gispert|March 16, 2023

Senior+tennis+player+Putri+Insani+in+action+during+SLUs+7-0+over+Bradley+on+Saturday+at+the+Southeastern+Tennis+Complex.+%28March+11%2C+2023%29

Dasyonne Brashear

Senior tennis player Putri Insani in action during SLU’s 7-0 over Bradley on Saturday at the Southeastern Tennis Complex. (March 11, 2023)

On Saturday, March 11, the Lady Lions Tennis team dominated Bradley University with a 7-0 win. 

The team had a rocky start to the season, losing its first three matches, but has since won four of its last six to climb to 4-5 overall.

Sophomore Kate Oborina, The Lion’s Roar staff reporter and member of the SLU women’s tennis team, won both her sets in singles and doubles. In addition, junior Nevada transfer Carla Del Barrio also won both her sets in singles and doubles.

Oborina mentioned her team’s stamina improvement as of late has helped the Lady Lions perform better.

“I think our weakness, in the beginning, was our physical shape, but then working hard with conditioning, we were running a lot and doing a lot of weights. Now we’re getting better, and we’re getting tired way less. When we play I see that we’re not tired anymore, and we can play to the third set and still be energized and ready to fight,” Oborina said.

Hearing their teammates’ support while playing keeps the squad motivated during the matches.

“Our strength comes from being like a family. We pull for each other and all of us want to win and that’s important,” Barrio said.

Going into the next match, Head Coach Jason Hayes said the team they’re up against is going to be good. He wants his team to take the opportunity to make improvements.  

“Each time we go out on the court we just want to get a little bit better in any area, whether it’s our footwork, decision making or support, anything, just a little bit better. That’s going to be a great test for us before we start conference play; that’s what you want, you want that opportunity,” Hayes said on his side facing Gonzaga on Tuesday.

Unfortunately for Southeastern, the Bulldogs defeated them 4-0 yesterday at the Southeastern Tennis Complex. 

SLU dropped to 4-5 on the season and will take on Bryant at 4 p.m. today at home before hosting NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology) Saturday, March 18 at 11 a.m.

Stay tuned to https://lionsports.net/sports/womens-tennis for the latest tennis updates on your Lady Lions.