After more than 15 years, Ottawa University included men and women’s tennis as part of its athletic program.
Head coach Lance Lysaught said the job will be different than the norm.
“Starting two tennis programs from scratch is a unique and at times daunting task,” Lysaught said.
Lysaught said the experience will be challenging but rewarding.
“The rewards of overcoming the various challenges cannot be measured,” he said.
Players are excited to play for the coaching staff, which includes Graduate assistant Katya Zapadalova, who played for Indiana University.
“It is a great honor to have her coaching us,” freshman Michelle Westerman said. “I really enjoy both coaches because they are sensitive and they never seem to lose hope in their players.”
Westerman said being in Ottawa has been positive for her.
“My experience at Ottawa has been great so far,” she said. “I have been meeting a lot of nice and friendly people.”
Freshman Danika Good said she shared much of the same feeling.
“We thought that coming here, with a whole new program, was going to be harder than what it has been so far,” she said. “With all of us being freshmen, we thought competitiveness would be a threat to the relationship with our teammates. We are glad it has not been like that. It is awesome.”
Bellew said she is focusing on improving her game more than anything.
Westerman is not worried about winning right away.
Her main goal is to stay positive and focused during matches.
“I need to focus more on the game and not worry so much about everything else that goes on around me,” she said. “I really hope to see how much I’ll improve in these next four years.”
Lysaught said he expects his team to do the right things.
“We want players that represent OU tennis in a respectful, servant leadership style,” he said. “I look forward to seeing OU tennis grow in regards to university, community, and alumni support.”
Having a solid practice court or schedule has been a challenge to the team.
“We only have 5 courts at the Forest Park,” Lysaught said. “This limits our practice schedule, as well as makes scheduling home matches rare, because of the increased time necessary to play a duel match.”
Westerman said the team hopes to have courts on campus by next year.
“When the high school has a match, we have no place to practice and vice versa,” Lysaught said. “Obviously the building of campus courts is a very necessary project for us to have a successful tennis program in the future. We are considering a location close to the baseball diamonds as an excellent possibility for this project.”