As fall varsity teams’ seasons start winding down, sports fans direly search for something to fill the temporary void until the winter season begins. Club sports are just that antidote. The club system provides non-varsity athletes with competitive athletic opportunities and entertaining games for fans.  This week, we evaluate the club sports that are currently in season.

Ultimate Frisbee

For Ultimate players, the fall season is basically a tune-up for the spring. Plays are drawn up, kinks are worked out and skills are refined: all with an eye towards the next season.

The fall season also means that the team is made up of both men and women. With mixed teams, the game plays a little differently than it does with an all-men or all-women squad.

The Sweets have had an average season so far. The team has gone to a few meets around Washington, competing well against traditionally tough opponents.

“Our record is around .500 this year,” said sophomore Stephen Stradley. “It’s kind of hard to tell what our record is because we play so many matches and we have two teams [X and Y] who we shuffle players in and out of.”

Over Halloween weekend, the team traveled to Hanford, Wash. to take on rival University of Puget Sound. The Sweets beat the UPS squad 13-8 in a greatly-contested, high-intensity game.

The Sweets are confident that they will be able to make a few deep runs in the tournaments they are scheduled to play.

“We’re a young team and we’re really improving every game,” said Stradley. “A few freshman players have added a lot of depth to our teams, on both the girls and guys side, and we are definitely looking to get them some playing time.”

Catch Stradley and the rest of the Ultimate Frisbee team out on Ankeny  any Monday, Wednesday or Friday, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Rugby

The men’s and women’s rugby teams are both grinding out solid seasons.

On the men’s side, an infusion of new talent has revived the team, bringing a new level of excitement to the pitch. Practices are loud, violent and fun; drills are crisp and tightly-run.

“Commitment is very high this year,” said sophomore rugger Matt McMillan. “We’re doing very well: our fundamentals are definitely coming along. The general attitude has changed such that the old way of thinking: that rugby was just a fun diversion: has gone away and all the guys are committed to getting better.”

The men have a record of 2-2 with two games left in the season, one against the Spokane Outlaws, formerly of Gonzaga University, and another against the Washington State University’s “B” squad.

Both are going to be big tests for the men, but scrapping together a win is not inconceivable.

“If we play well, we definitely have a chance of upsetting one or both of these teams,” said McMillan. “WSU is such a young team that we might actually be fundamentally superior to them.”

For the women, the season has been an average one. The team has a record of 1-2 so far with two matches left to play.

One is a match-up against Gonzaga University at home. The other is an away game at Central Washington University.

The team has a high turnover rate from season to season, with many players deciding that one season of high-risk rugby is more than enough for them.

As a result, the team is comprised of a core group of hardy veterans, with a large rookie class made up mostly of first-years providing the team with some extra depth.

“About half of our team are rookie players,” said junior captain Emily Lorente. “They are all really scrappy girls who go hard every play and they are picking up the game really fast.”

On Saturday, the women ruggers play away against Central Washington University.

Tennis

The Whitman club tennis team made a strong debut at the Northwest Sectionals tournament over Halloween weekend.

The team competed well, grinding out a win against a tough Western Washington University squad in their first round match.

Their next match was against a very good University of Victoria squad: a team which placed second at the sectionals tournament last year. After a string of close individual matches, the Victoria squad edged out Whitman’s score by just a few points.

The team did manage to advance to the main draw of the tournament as one of the top 14 teams. But, again, the team drew a tough opponent: a University of British Columbia team which won sectionals two years ago.

“We lost overall, but played well against a tough team,” said sophomore Lizzy Schiller, club tennis president. “The whole squad was so big and intimidating, there were even some players who probably could have played for the Whitman varsity team.”

Despite an early exit, club tennis did earn a consolation victory.  Because the tournament was held over Halloween weekend, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) sponsored a costume contest between all the participating teams.

“Our team decided to be Snow White and the seven dwarfs: Seth [Dawson]’s idea,” said Schiller. “I was Snow White and the other five players [sophomore Dawson, first-years Kasey Burden and Danielle Broida, juniors Matt Manley  and David Mai] were the 7 dwarfs: each was 1.4 of a dwarf.”

After intense deliberation, the judges announced that Whitman had been chosen as the best-dressed team.

“We won brand new tennis gear worth over $600,” said Schiller. “We will be selling part of our winnings to fund this trip since we haven’t been given any ASWC funding as of right now.”

That being said, the club tennis team is happy with how its inaugural fall season has gone.

“Overall Whitman club tennis had a strong first year,” said Mai. “We played tough matches against great schools and produced some excellent tennis along the way. We got to meet a lot of teams and look forward to competing against several of the teams in the spring season.”