At 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 28 the Lady Lions tennis team played its first match of the day with a temperature of 31 degrees and a slight mist that had just ended.

The lone winner for the first match was junior Sheryl Posch who overcame the cold to defeat Esther Delgado (6-0, 6-1) of Cameron University.

“We were playing in 27 degree weather, it was pretty hard to get used to it,” Posch said.

Posch said she thought the team as a whole played “pretty well,” but that there is “room for improvement.” The team has been off as of late, usually the players that win one week will win the next week, she said.

“It’s pretty consistent for people to win at the top and at the bottom,” Posch said.

Julie Wengert, head tennis coach, said one of the problems that plagued the team during the first match was the cold weather.

She said some of the players had trouble wearing a lot of clothing and trying to play.

They weren’t able to get the full range of motion they wanted for their swings or serves.

“We had a couple of matches that were close and could have gone either way,” Wengert said.

When the Lady Lions fell in their next match against the University of Central Oklahoma, the lone winner in the singles side was Lacey McMunn who defeated Jennifer Jones (7-5, 6-2).

In the doubles side during the UCO match, Posch and McMunn defeated Abby Frick and Stephanie Johns (8-4).

Following that win was Kim McMunn and Amy Stredney who defeated Sarah Bowman and Erin Parriott (8-6).

Wengert said the players thought it felt warmer during the second match, although it had only warmed up to 38 degrees. She said for the first match, the players went straight from warming up to playing.

“We took plenty of time to get warmed up, so we could stay away from any injuries that could occur because of the cold,” Wengert said.

“I reminded them before we went out to play that they’re not the only ones playing in the cold and that the opponents were playing in it, too.”

The next match for the team will be 1 p.m. Saturday at home against Lincoln University.

The women will compete in both doubles and singles matches.

Wengert said the match may be canceled because the coach for Lincoln’s tennis team is the same coach for its basketball team and could have a game on Saturday.