Tennis Remains Hopeful Despite Loss to Hornets

Southern University’s women’s tennis team took on the Alabama State Bulldogs on Friday aiming for their first win of the season. With their first matches kicking off at 8am, the team had an early start to their day.
Although the Jags were hopeful coming into Friday morning’s contest, the game quickly went away from them as they continually fell behind all morning.
Tanaka Chakanyuka, a civil engineering major from Zimbabwe, recounts her singles match, revealing, “I really think that I was pretty good when it came to…attacking. My only problem was getting the balls in, so I need to work on my consistency. I need to work on those attacking shots [to] make sure that I actually get the target, but I wasn’t defending a lot so that’s pretty good. I’m happy that I wasn’t just waiting for [my opponent] to make a mistake…I really think that tennis is mostly a mental game, so I just have to prepare my mind…[and] work on my mentality.”
Stephanie Mbaya, a junior from Nairobi, Kenya, was able to attest to the team’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as what she does to prepare for her matches normally, and this match in particular.
According to Mbaya, “I feel like we’re mentally stronger now [but] we all really need to work on…fighting for the important points. I think about my match before I go on. That includes my strategy, what’s working, what’s not, what the person on the other side is doing, and just fighting for every point”
Ultimately, the Lady Jags dropped the days’ contest with a score of 0-4, as they continue to search for their first win of the season.
The Digest got the opportunity to speak with the women’s head tennis coach, Jeff Conyers, about what he believes the team needs to work on in order to build on the progress they have made this season in the future.
Jeff reports to the Digest, “Definitely being relentless, that’s our motto at Southern, and knowing what it means to be a Jaguar. So, I think everybody needs to try to find out what it means to be a Jag right now [and] what it means to be relentless…once we get that worked out I think everything will be alright,” It is clear that Coach Conyers sees the potential in his team’s ability to rise to the occasion and claim a victory.
Southern University’s women’s tennis team have their eye on the prize. With a common goal and a clear understanding of what they must improve on, the Lady Jags will look for a better showing Saturday as they take on Grambling in Baton Rouge at 12pm.