Sher Porter
LV Life Editor
After weeks of heartbreak, petitioning and meetings, the women’s tennis team was reinstated Tuesday.
Meetings were held for the men’s and women’s tennis teams to announce the final decision about each team’s status for next year. The men’s team will be kept on hiatus.
“These decisions are not taken lightly. We base our decisions on the philosophical principles we believe in,” Julie Kline, interim athletic director, said in an e-mail.
The women’s tennis team was kept because the team is more competitive and it has more players for next year, Jennifer Baca, a junior member of the women’s team said. She said the team’s use of the Claremont Club tennis courts for free was also a huge factor in the team being reinstated.
“I think that’s what really helped to reverse the situation,” Baca said.
Kline said the men’s team was not kept because it did not meet the same standards as the women’s team.
“I feel like this is kind of bittersweet for me,” Baca said.
“I think that it really didn’t solve anything,” Nick Mitzenmacher, sophomore men’s tennis player, said.
The other reason for reinstating the women’s team was there is not enough money in the tennis to fund both programs.
“I just think it was an unfair situation,” Mitzenmacher.
Mitzenmacher said more could have been done to raise money to keep both teams, such as plan fund-raisers or splitting the budget between both teams.
At this time, the decision regarding the men’s tennis team will not be reversed. There is no timeline for how long the team will be on hiatus.
“We will continue to look for opportunities to re-instate the men’s tennis program,” Kline said. “However, we will only do so when we can provide the program and student-athletes will the high level quality experience they deserve.”
The decision also allows the school to meet Title IX, which says that each school should maintain equity between men’s and women’s athletic programs.
Sher Porter can be reached at sherrice.porter@laverne.edu.
