After a year off, SNHU Men’s and Women’s Tennis has finally returned to campus to play an abridged spring season in the NE-10 conference. This is all occurring with new rules and restrictions in place to ensure the safety and health of the players, such as weekly testing and wearing masks during daily practices.
Everyone involved is excited to resume their seasons, which were cut short last year due to Covid-19. Head Coach Gregory Coache is very enthusiastic about the season returning and getting to work with his athletes. “We’re just excited to get the players back…I would say I want them to really enjoy their experience, [to] please be smart and be healthy. If they are, both my men’s and women’s teams could go very far as they have in years past,” said Coache.
The women’s games are on Sundays and Wednesdays. The season began with a winning streak, beating Saint Anselm (4-0), Saint Michael’s (7-0) and Assumption (7-0). However, in the next game, SNHU lost to undefeated Franklin Pierce (2-5) bringing them to 3-1 on the season. On Wednesday the 31, SNHU rallied back from their loss and beat Saint Anselm for a second time (5-0) boosting them to a 4-1 record. Co-captains Liz Dwyer (’22) and Alexa Etienne (’22), when asked about how they feel about the season, said, “It’s definitely looking promising for the future since everyone came back and they’re fitting pretty well.” They are hoping to win the NE-10 this season and get the ring that comes with it.
The men’s season began on March 27 with a 5-2 win against Bentley which was followed by a 5-1 loss to Franklin Pierce. This all follows postponements for the first two games on the schedule due to testing complications. Games will proceed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
As explained by Willem van Biezen (’22), a grad student from Sassenheim, Netherlands, “We always get Covid tested on Tuesdays in the morning, but if we have Tuesday matches, we would need that negative result before we start the match, so we are now testing on Monday. They were afraid that we couldn’t get that result on time Tuesday, so…they postponed it for this time.” Despite the delay, van Biezen remains positive that men’s tennis will be able to do well this season.
Because of health and safety concerns, spectators are not allowed to be in the stands. However, viewers are able to watch live-streams of the matches or can email Coach Coache for full recordings of them.
