Roommates, best friends, and now teammates, junior Kim Castellano and senior Shea Jakubowski started playing tennis just two months ago after hesitantly joining the women’s team at the start of this season.
Despite their inexperience, the duo has been quite successful on the court. Castellano is 4-1 in singles and Jakubowski is 2-2. Together for doubles, they are 3-2 and are currently on a three-game winning streak.
Castellano and Jakubowski said they never expected to competitively play tennis in college.
“I wasn’t sure about the skill level it was going to be at because we really have never played tennis before,” Castellano said. “It was starting from zero.”
In February 2022, Athletic Director Susan Kolb sent a mass email to students urging them to join the tennis program, as at that time the team did not meet the required number of players to compete this season.
With the threat of the season being canceled and added encouragement from friends, Castellano and Jakubowski decided to give the sport a try.
“When we first joined, I don’t think we expected to win anything,” Jakubowski said. “Like, our goal going into the first match was just to win a single game.”
Castellano and Jakubowski are the only Hood doubles team that has no prior experience playing tennis.
Although they lost their first doubles match against St. Mary’s, the women accomplished their goal of winning a single game. They lost the match 8-1 but celebrated the one game they did win within the match. They were the only doubles team from Hood to win a single game that day.
Head Coach Jorge Rey said that he had to start off the season by teaching them basic skills such as how to hold a racket, different grip styles and hitting techniques. He served as the graduate assistant in the fall and has stepped up as the temporary head coach after the former head coach left the position at the end of the fall season.
“I have experience coaching players with no experience,” Rey said. “The main goal was to teach them the basic technique for tennis and how the competition works since we did not have a lot of time to get them ready.”
This is not the first time Castellano and Jakubowski have been teammates, as they also played soccer together here at Hood.
“It helps with our doubles because we’ve played together, so we can communicate well,” Castellano said.
Given the new setting they have found themselves in, the women said the supportive environment from Coach Rey and veteran players has made the transition easy for them.
“Coming from a team sport…I love soccer, I love team sports, so it’s so nice coming to an environment where it’s just you playing and everyone is so supportive,” Jakubowski said. “Honest to God I don’t think I would’ve stayed on the team as long as I have if everyone wasn’t as supportive as they were.”
Castellano and Jakubowski said that they are both competitive, as they have played sports their entire lives.
“We’re trying because we’re competitive,” Castellano said. “We’re like, we want to have fun, but we also want to win.”
“If I’m going to do something, I’m going to make it good,” Jakubowski added.
The duo has won its last three doubles matches by sizeable margins. They beat Trinity and Juanita 8-1 and won their last match against Alvernia 8-4.
“My favorite part about coaching them is that they are very competitive no matter if they are not as experienced as their opponents,” Rey said. “They are willing to listen and try to get better every time they step on the court.”
Women’s tennis is now in the second half of its regular season, which will consist of mostly conference games. The team has a conference match at York College of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, April 12.
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