SPORTS
V
Men’s Tennis
Photos by Davis Farthing - Staff Photographer
Above: Senior Matt Waissen returns a serve against Mars Hill on
Saturday. The Bulldogs shut out the visiting Mountain Lions.
Left: Senior Pete Conaty stretches to reach a return on Saturday.
WINLESS
continued from page 9
“This loss was a very difficult one for the team to
take. We laid everything we had on the line, but came
up just short," Blaylock said. “I was very proud of the
heart and fight our team displayed tonight. We will learn
from this loss and make adjustments as needed.”
Positive words from their coach provided some com
fort, but the loss still hurt. Riles said.
“Our coach told us after the game that it’s OlC'to feel
down and hold your head down when you pour your
heart into something and still not get the result that you
were fighting for,” the 22-year-old said. “It was a hard
loss, very hard. One of those you go to sleep thinking
about and wake- up thinking about and just make you
sick to your stomach.”
Both Big South opponents present different challeng
es, Kirkpatrick said.
“Charleston Southern has one of the premiere post
players in the conference,” the 34-year-old said. “Coast
al Carolina, on the other hand, is a very transition-ori
ented team. They like to push the basketball, they don’t
play the ball inside, but they will try to get us to turn
it over.”
A lack of victories this season, with their last win
coming on Dec. 8 against Columbia College, can cause
a team’s self-confidence and self-respect to weaken,
Kirkpatrick said.
“I think that when you haven’t had a lot of success, it
can affect you mentally and psychologically and it can
affect your expectation because you’re not used to win
ning,” Kirkpatrick said. “If you start dwelling on that,
it can become difficult to perform. You start playing not
to lose instead of playing assured that you’re going to
win.”
To finish the season with a winning perspective, the
team must continue to fight, said Blaylock.
“I think we need to continue to play fearlessly. We
have to be willing to lay our hearts on the floor every
game,” the Roanoke, Va., native said. “It can be diffi
cult to do when you do not get the wanted result, but we
will put ourselves in a good position to win if we play
with that attitude.”
Kirkpatrick said the respect for her team runs deep.
“I’m just really proud of them,” she said. “It’s not
easy every day, but they come to work and we get better
and we prepare for the next opponent. And we’re going
to give it our best shot every time.”