By Dylan Fink | Sports Writer
The banks of the Brazos have once again become witness to the melodious percussion of rackets against balls, tuned to the harmony of sneakers squeaking at the Hurd Tennis Center.
Midway through the fall season, Baylor women’s tennis is fighting to find and maintain its footing with a younger, less-experienced roster.
“We had a lot of players that stayed over the summer and put in a lot of work,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “But unfortunately, we have a lot of new players that weren’t able to do that, not because of not wanting to, but because of the whole process with getting them started in school.”
The Bears’ longest-tenured player is junior Poland native Zuzanna Kubacha, who is in her third season with the Bears. The only other upperclassmen on the roster are seniors Na Dong, from Tianshui, China, and Kennedy Gibbs, a Houston native. Both played for the Bears last season.
“We’re going to have a lot of growing pains this year for sure,” Scrivano said. “We’re basically throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them to get them to start to have a higher level of tennis intelligence.”
To his younger players, Scrivano has stressed the importance of adapting to the feeling of being on a team. Every rostered player for the Bears grew up playing in almost exclusively individual tournaments throughout the junior tennis circuits.
“They’re going onto this team, and they start to learn, ‘Oh gosh, the world doesn’t revolve around me,’” Scrivano said. “They actually have to do something for the greater good of the team, and there’s a whole new experience with that.”
The team is less worried about creating high expectations for themselves this year and more focused on what they can control daily.
“The ceiling for most teams is high,” Scrivano said. “The bigger challenge is just raising the floor.”
Baylor players have competed in three tournaments this fall. Scrivano has approached each with a focus on consistency in a sport with many highs and lows.
“Any team can have special moments, but what we’re all about is consistency,” Scrivano said. “We need to really raise the floor and make it something more consistent. If we live and die by reaching a high ceiling and avoiding a low floor, then it’s going to be a pretty up-and-down season.”
The team’s floor is not yet where the long-tenured coach wants it to be.
“It’s pretty low, because the margins in this sport are very small,” Scrivano said. “Every little detail and every little habit matters. At the end of the day, it’s about working as hard as you can to make the best out of a situation and being able to be at a place where you can be proud of what you’ve done with this year.”
Despite the search for clearer team consistency, Kubacha and Dong have been stellar for the Bears this season. The pair took home the doubles championship at the ITA regional championship tournament last week, guaranteeing a national championship appearance for the duo at the end of November.
“I don’t think they lost a single set that entire tournament,” Scrivano said. “They know how to control nearly every match they play in, so I like their chances against anybody. We’re really excited to be sending them to the nationals in a month — but also, first things first, they still have to play every match one day at a time and work their way towards that.”
Baylor’s next tournament will be the ITA Conference Master’s Championship, Nov. 6–8 in San Diego, Calif.
