SUMTER, S.C. – Barry University women’s tennis partners Linda Fritschken and Emma Onila repeated as Intercollegiate Tennis Association Super Bowl doubles champions Sunday.
The Buccaneers duo, who also won their second straight ITA Small College Championships title two days earlier at Palmetto Tennis Center, beat Claremont-Mudd Scripps’ Caroline Ward and Katie Kuosman, 6-4, 6-1, in the Super Bowl championship match.
“We’re happy we’re bringing back a bonus,” Onila said, chuckling.
The Super Bowl Championships is made up of the ITA National Junior College Athletic Association, NAIA, NCAA Division III and Division II winners. Fritschken and Onila are the only Barry players to win back-to-back Small College Championships and Super Bowl titles.
“Last year when they played (this tournament), they were just starting to know each other,” Bucs assistant coach Maria Lopez said. “This year they came with obviously a different mentality. There was a pressure in the air. The difference this year was they really had to rise up in pressure situations. When it was time to close out the point, to close out the game, they were able to do that every single time. That was the thing that I think makes them a better doubles team now. It comes down those small moments.”
In what was originally scheduled for a 10 a.m. finals match, Fritschken and Onila woke up earlier to accommodate their Division III opponents’ request to play the match earlier for travel reasons, but rainy conditions delayed the start of the match. That left the players waiting for roughly four hours before they could get on the courts.
“The conditions were really tough for them,” Lopez said. “We were not used to that. It was really difficult for them to come out and play their game. They were able to overcome those small variables. But they started to play a lot stronger, especially in the second set.”
Fritschken and Onila led 5-2 in the first set when Ward and Kuosman turned up their play to take the next two games.
“It was always in our control,” Fritschken said. “The girls played some nice balls. They were really motivated. But then when it was 5-4, we played fine and won the set. It was not really necessary to give them two more games.”
Barry’s pair made some adjustments in the final game of the first set to close it out.
“We had to play safe, and we just played a little more aggressive and close it out,” Onila said. “They have a different style of game. They were a little slower, they came to the net a little bit more so we had to adjust to their game.”
Fritschken and Onila wasted little time dictating the second set to repeat as champs.
“In the second set, we were playing more aggressive,” Onila said. “We were playing more at the net as well, and we were closing out the point. It was to our advantage.”
By winning the Super Bowl, Fritschken, a senior from Berlin, Germany, and Onila, a junior from Twin Falls, Idaho, earned the right to compete in the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., Nov. 6-9.
“It’s a very nice accomplishment, and it’s very nice to win the tournament in your senior year because nobody can take it from you,” Fritschken said. “We go to the tournaments because we want to win them. We see opponents we’re going to play against in the spring. You want to show them you’re a pretty tough doubles team.”
That the Buccaneers did again, carving out a niche for themselves as one of the school’s best doubles team, especially in the fall tournaments. The Bucs duo won 10 straight matches together at the ITA Small College and Super Bowl tournaments over the past two years. Coupled with the ITA South Region Championships the past two years, Fritschken and Onila have won 18 straight matches together during the USTA/ITA fall championship events.
“I’m proud of our effort, and I really didn’t have a doubt in my mind that we weren’t going to do it again,” Onila said. “I’m happy that we won it again.”
Fritschken and Onila will have three weeks to train for the Indoor Championships at Flushing Meadows.
“They have the potential to beat any team,” Lopez said. “When they’re on and they’re supporting each other they can beat any doubles team, even in Division I. I have no doubt they’re the best doubles team that Barry’s ever had.”
ITA SMALL COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIPS