Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

Page 149 text:

BACK ROW: Debbie Blair, Sonja Odegard, Heidi Franklin, Coach Naomi Graves. FRONT: Michelle Dwyer, Christi¬ na Tondora, Jackie Hurst, Nancy Kokosa. Jackie Hurst prepares for a smashing backhand return. Women ' s Tennis 145

Page 148 text:

Lady Engineers Finish at 6-5 The WPI somen ' s tennis team began the 1986 season in a state of limbo. Starting out with too few players for a complete team, the entire season was in jeopardy. Undaunted, second year coach Naomi Graves assembled a team of seven dedicated players and the season was underway. Led by four returning letter winners, senior captains Christina Tondora and Jackie Hurst, and sophomore sensations Debbie Blair and Michell Dwyer, the women ' s team turned in a winning 6-5 record and participated in the MAIAW State Tournament. Debbie Blair and Michelle Dwyer, undeniably were the backbone of the team. At the 1 singles spot, Smokin ' Debbie Blair finished at 9-2, while Michelle compiled an 8-3 record playing 2 singles. These two super sophomores put together an impressive 7-4 reecord at 1 doubles. The 3rd and 4th singles, as well as 2 doubles, were played by captains Jackie Hurst and Chris Tondora. Both these seniors played superb tennis and each turned in some clutch performances during the season. Playing at New Hampshire College, Jackie turned in her finest performance of the season winning 6-2, 6-2 utilizing her strong serves and smashing overheads. While at RIC, Chris rallied against a tough opponent to win her singles match in 3 sets 7- 5, 4-6, 6-4. This individual victory won the match for WPI. The enthusiasm and dedication of both Jackie and Chris will be missed next year. New additions to the team this year included sophomore Heidi Franklin, freshman Sonja Odegard and senior Nancy Kokosa. At the 5 spot, Heidi played solid tennis throughout the year compiling a 6-4 record. Freshman Sonja The Edge Odegard played impressive tennis for a first year player at the 6 singles spot. Rounding out the squad, senior Nancy Kokosa added depth, filling in at 3 doubles and 6 singles. Overall, the ' 86 women ' s tennis team accomplished far more than was expected by Coach Graves. Although limited in size but not in spirit, Debbie, Michelle, Jackie, Chris, Heidi, Sonja, and Nancy blended their talents to put together a winning season. The experience and tennis expertise of the returning players along with the enthusiasm and determination of the first year players proved to be a successful combination for Coach Graves and her squad. 144 Women ' s Tennis

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THE MEN IN MAROON The 1986 Engineers were a team that started out with a bang by defeating a fa¬ vored Fordham team in the Bronx. The Engineers dis¬ played an awesome attack by defeating the Rams, 31- 20 . The second game was back in Worcester before an overflow homecoming crowd , who were treated to another awesome display by the Engineers when they completely handled a Coast Guard team ranked 1 in New England small col¬ leges. The team traveled to the Tufts Oval with what they felt was a winning combina¬ tion. The Jumboes used their wishbone attack to control the ball and prevent the WPI offense from rolling on them. However, just when they solved the mystery of the T- Bone offense and got the ball back they preceeded to commit five turnovers. The turnovers did them in, and Tufts went on to be¬ come the 1 Division III team in New England. On October 4, Union came to town with an undefeated team. The game started with WPI jumping out in front, but Union came back. Two gadget plays, a sleeper play for 48 yards and a score on a pass out of punt formation for Union did the Engineers in, in the second half. However, the game was still a great display of football. The fifth game was against Norwich University up in Ver¬ mont. Although it was close in score, WPI completely controlled the ball game by amassing 427 total yards of offense to Norwich ' s 184. Next, Bates came to Worcester. WPI registered a 35-6 victory and it ' s 4th vic¬ tory of the season. In, the seventh game, WPI Engineers battled RPI at RPI. WPI was trailing, 21-3, at the half, regained the lead in the 3rd quarter, but lost within the last two minutes of play. The final game was a must for the 5-3 season and the 7th consecutive year of non-losing. Lowell had a very competitive team. Howev¬ er, a tough defense proved successful for the Engi¬ neers . It was another successful year for WPI Football. Mike Bucci was ECAC Rookie of the Year, had 7 games where he had more than 100 yards of running offense, had a year total of 1072 yards and received a Gold Helmet Award from CocaCola. Dave Hargreaves was ECAC All New England at offensive tackle. Scott Lamont, Chris Cahill, Bob Watts and Pete Carlson all played well in the offensive line while Co-Cap- tain Steve Nolan was out¬ standing at wide receiver. John St. Cyr did a fine job at flanker. Farland did a fine job at QB. John Wholey, injured for the first half of the sea¬ son, came back to help the team go out a winner. De¬ fensively, Andy Gathy and Co-Captain Larry Lebel were outstanding at line¬ backer while Brian Smith and Co-Captain Dave Bernier did a super job at defensive end. Sun Park and Tom Pe¬ terson in the defensive line and Greg Engert in the sec¬ ondary were constantly giv¬ ing 100%. Joe Donze, the deminutive running back, again showed us all what the love of the game and spirit was all about. These seniors will be missed for their play, but more importantly, their loyalty and leadership are the qualitites that lead WPI to another winning season! 146 WPI Engineers