The tennis regionals on September 28 were described as historical by Tennis Center Manager and Head Tennis Coach Malik Tabet. This year was the first time that the University of Indianapolis tennis team won both singles and doubles, in both genders at the regionals.
“I was very happy,” Tabet said. “[I’m] very proud of my players, especially the fact that they played as a team even though it was an individual tournament. They all supported each other and they all cheered for each other and they all played for each other.”
To prepare to get to regionals though, junior Hanna Volikova said that preparation for the season started over the summer. Outside of her job and internship, her spare time consisted of doing exercises and practicing to get ready for the season.
This was Volikova’s third year winning the regional championship in singles. According to Volikova her experience at regionals was great due to the fact she felt very comfortable with herself on the court.
This year was senior Magnus Mueller’s first time competing in the tennis regionals. He said he believes that conditioning his body prepared him the most for regionals. He said that it has been a pleasurable experience playing with this team throughout his tennis career.
Overall, both Mueller and Volikova describe their time at regionals and winning as one of their favorite memories from the season so far. They are also keeping in mind things that not only they can improve on, but what the team can improve as a whole for the remainder of the season.
According to Tabet, the struggles the team has had so far this year has to do with the mental aspect of the game. He said that some of the players this season have struggled with keeping a solid mindset throughout the whole match, especially when the player may lose a point.
“Sometimes you see kind of a roller coaster in players’ mindset and that’s where we’ve been struggling,” Tabet said. “We’re really trying to focus on staying a little bit more focused playing mentally at a high level.”
According to Mueller, the team works really well together which has helped out how much chemistry the team has.
“We’re all international so we don’t have families here,” Mueller said. “We are our own family. That’s what makes it so tough to beat us I think, because we all cheer for each other like crazy.”
