Simpson College’s Women’s Tennis team is gearing up for a short spring season.

The team has a total of three meets at home against Northwestern, Graceland and Central, and a fourth in Grandview.

To get the team ready for their opponents, the season begins with two-a-days. Practice in the morning consists of strength and conditioning drills. Later, they participate in drill running and then the team plays rounds of doubles or single plays.

To keep the athletes in peak condition, head tennis coach Lindsay Chase likes to keep the practices short, roughly an hour and a half.

“We do a lot of running, which is terrible at the time, but it gets us in shape for the third set,” junior Mikayla Struebing said.

“Being in shape for tennis is half a win,” senior Allison Anderson said.

All of this hard work paid off for Anderson in last year’s win against Central.

“I think beating Central at Conference this last year was a big moment for us because Central is always a big rival and they were not as strong as past years, but they went for us,” Anderson said.

Having played the opponents in the past year helps the players strategize before the day of the meet.

“I played a lot of the girls that I play every season,” Struebing said. “This helps me remember their strategies.”

When members of the team get down in the dumps, there is always someone there willing to lift them up.

“A lot of my inspiration comes from my team because we are always cheering each other on, in the end you want to play and win with the team,” Strubeing said.

The goals they’ve set for this year include moving up in the rankings and having fewer injuries.

“This season we will hopefully be able to move up in the conference rankings,” Struebing said. “I think that is everyone’s goal and we can make it happen.”

Last season the team was challenged with injuries.

“Mikayla Struebing had issues with her shoulders, and I had issues with my hip,” Anderson said. “This caused us to play differently.”

One of the team missions is to come back from these injuries and achieve the goal of third place at conference.

“We have the ability to do it, especially with one more recruit,” Anderson said. “We will be top notch.”

Chase hopes the team will be supportive, especially to those seniors who will wrap up their college careers this year.

“I think the epitome of the word team is defined as bringing the team together and having them cheer and support each other on and off the court,” Chase said.

Never giving up on your players is one of the mottos that Chase lives by.

“Finding a way to help my players achieve their goals and training each player since they are all different is very important,” Chase said. “If things don’t go your way, think about all the good and blessed things you have in order to keep going.”

The team plays Northwestern on March 30 at 4 p.m. home.