Tennis Duo Soars to Second Place Finish at Conference Tournament
Jenni Brechtel
Issue date: 10/13/09 Section: Sports
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About a week and a half before school started, the duo was out practicing six hours a day to prepare for the season. The six hours were split up into two separate practices; the first practice consisting of mainly running and cardio drills, the second practice consisted of court drills and matches amoungst one another. Throughout the season, the girls were required to do an hour of cardio each day along with the two hours of practice and run a timed mile once a week.
"We really worked our butts off this season," Stachulak said.
"After all the hard practices and matches that we went through over the past month, we became more confident in being partners and our combined skill level seemed to be higher by the end of the season. We were confident that we could do some damage at the tournament."
The dynamic duo entered the conference tournament as the number two seed which gave them a bye in the first round. In the second round, the pair quickly defeated Lakeland's April Schmitz and Nicole Shavlik, 8-2.
After toppling over Lakeland, the BU No. 1 doubles team was headed into the semifinal round against Wisconsin Lutheran College. During the regular season Warriors Kathryn Hendee and Hannah Tullberg defeated Carrillo and Stachulak 8-4.
"Going into the Wisconsin Lutheran match we knew we had to play our game," said Carrillo. "We had to make sure that we were aggressive from the start, we had to come out strong and we had to make sure we didn't give up. No matter what the score is we always tell each other that the score is 0-0. It helps because if we are in the lead we don't want to get too comfortable and ease up or if we are losing we don't want to get down on ourselves and give up."
This time around, the Eagles showed the Warriors no mercy beating them 8-5. Carrillo and Stachulak's victory helped them advance to the championship match. This appearance made them the first doubles team in BU history to play in a championship match in the NAC.
The Eagles fell to an unbeatable Concordia Wisconsin 0-8 in the final round.
"I was so proud of the girls," said Head Coach Mandy Semenik. "I knew that if I kept the girls focused at practice that they would go far in the tournament. I couldn't be more proud that they got to come home with second place."
Not only did the No. 1 doubles team step it up, but the whole team contributed to a 5th place finish at the conference tournament which was an improvement from the 7th place finish the team earned last year.
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