Tennis faces Taiwanese in exhibition

by Joshua Weinstock on September 2, 2009

U.S. Tennis Team duo Aaron Gomez and Jennifer Woyahn played a mixed doubles exhibition match against members of the National Chung Cheng University tennis team during their Monday afternoon practice. Tuesday, they focused on singles play in the morning, and played mixed doubles against NCCU again in the afternoon. Coach Howard Gorrell said he thought the competition against the Taiwanese was helpful, since his players showed significant improvement. “On the first day, we were doubling over and overwhelmed by the weather. Right now, we look polished and conditioned, a big difference from the first day.” Scores were not kept during the exhibition, because the purpose of the matches was to prepare the players to face new opponents. In addition to the matches, the game included usage of the Slazenger Wimbledon Ultra Vis ball, the official game ball that will be used during the Deaflympics, Gorrell said. George Wang, 21, a student at NCCU, was Gomez’s opponent. Wang has played tennis since he was 11 years old and speaks no English. With another NCCU player translating, Wang said the U.S. players “played well and have a good chance to win if they do not make too many errors.” On the other hand, Wang observed that Gomez needs to “play more stable and put extra spin on the ball.” During water breaks in the match, Wang helped Gomez with some pointers regarding returning volleys when he approaches the net. Woyahn said she appreciated the Taiwanese players helping them prepare for the Deaflympics. “I had a good match against the solid Taiwanese female player, and she gave me a lot of confidence in preparation for the games.” NCCU tennis coach Y.H. Lee, who only saw limited action of the mixed doubles match today said it was the first time he had seen deaf athletes play tennis, and that his first impression of the U.S. mixed doubles team was “that they are no different from normal [hearing] players.” Lee has coached the NCCU team for eight years and participated in the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing and 1992 Davis Cup as a member of the Chinese-Taipei and Taiwan team. Lee, in his eighth year at NCCU and a veteran of the Asian Games and Davis Cup, said he was impressed with how the duo played together. He also said he was astounded about Woyhan’s 20 years of experience playing tennis and that she was “better than any player of mine … and Gomez was talented enough to compete with my players.” What Lee didn’t know is that Gomez and Woyhan have competed in only two tennis tournaments together before combining at the NCCU tennis court. “It’s hard to prepare together since we live in different states, but we make the effort to work together,” Woyahn said. This was the first time Lee had heard about the Deaflympics, and he said he hopes Woyahn and Gomez “will have a good performance and have fun in Taiwan!”

Aaron Gomez returns a ball during a recent mixed doubles match at National Chung Cheng University. (Photo by Sina McCarthy)

Jenny Woyahn of the tennis team breaks after sending a serve over the net. (Photo by Sina McCarthy)

Tennis faces Taiwanese in exhibition

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