Mandi Mooney
Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 2005
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Sisters Cheri and Cassie Lomison play
doubles at the Appalachian Athletic Conference. The sisters became
tournament champions.
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Milligan’s tennis teams advanced to the National Athletic Intercollegiate Association Region XII tournament last weekend. The women’s team came in first place in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament while the men finished in second place. The teams left yesterday to travel to the University of Indiana-Southeast at Community Park in New Albany, Ind.
The Lomison sisters, senior Cheri and junior Cassie, defeated Virginia Intermont
College’s women’s tennis No. 1 doubles team last weekend at the Appalachian
Athletic Conference tournament to become the conference champions. The duo talks
about their win, competing with each other and balancing studying with matches.
Q: How long have you been playing tennis?
Cheri: Since I can remember. I think I picked up a racket around the age
of 6 or 7. My older sister was playing high school tennis at that point, and
Cassie and I decided that we wanted to learn how to play too.
Cassie: I have been playing tennis since I was 5 or 6. I was not in
tournaments then; Cheri and I just went out at night with my dad and hit under
the lights for hours.
Q: What type of competition will you be facing at the regional
tournament?
Cheri: Pretty tough. Bethel has won some matches against some tough
opponents and IU Southeast is ranked some matches against some tough opponents,
and IU Southeast is ranked 20th in the nation.
Cassie: I think the competition at regionals will be tough. Our team will
have to show up and give 110% in order to win our first round against Bethel
College. If we end up winning our first round we have to turn around and play
Indiana Southeast who will be incredible hard. I think it is very possible (to
win the matches), and I know that the girls want to win regionals.
Q: How does it feel to be a conference champion? What was your reaction
when you first found out the results?
Cheri: Being a conference champion is something I’ve wanted for four
years. To win the championship my senior year is amazing, and I’m still
incredibly psyched about it. Of course when we won a smile was plastered to my
face, but the entire tournament weekend was full of emotion. We all wanted it so
badly. After several key matches in which our team pulled out victories, I
welled up with tears because everyone was playing with so much heart. I’m really
proud of all the girls and sharing this victory with them makes it even sweeter.
Cassie: Being a conference champion is amazing! We knew this year that we
had the chance to be conference champs, and all of the girls have worked really
hard to make that happen. When Cheri and I ended up winning in the finals
against VI, who was undefeated during the season, I had tears streaming down
because this was Cheri’s last year in tennis, and I wanted to win most
importantly for her because she deserves to be a conference champion. Credit
definitely goes to Jessica Conn and Lauren Douty for pulling out the final match
in order for us to win the tournament. The pressure was on, and they definitely
rose above it all. They played amazing, and if it were not for them, we wouldn’t
have been the champs.
Q: How do the two of you make your doubles team work?
Cheri: We’ve been playing together for so long now that we have a great
awareness of each other on the court. If one of us is struggling with a
particular shot that day, we can usually help each other figure it out. Usually
our plan when we get on the court is to be aggressive, attack the net and always
keep our feet moving - a simple yet important part of doubles.
Cassie: Communication is what makes our doubles team work. I know I can
count on Cheri to help me out when I am struggling with particular shots that
day, and she knows that I will help her as well. It also helps that we have been
playing with each other for a long time. We know each other’s strengths and
weaknesses, and we adjust to that on the court.
Q: How are you going to balance studying for finals since you will be on
the road for the coming weekend?
Cheri: I’m not planning on studying at all. There’s no point. We’ll be
back Saturday night, and I’ll have all day Sunday to hit the books. This could
possibly be my last weekend of collegiate tennis, and I want to be able to savor
it.
Cassie: Well, I debated on whether to bring books or not because I have
two finals on Monday, but I plan on studying while we travel. Once we get there,
we have to focus 100 percent on tennis if we want to win. So while we are there,
the books are packed away.