Women's Tennis Opens Season Friday at 1 p.m.
1/27/2016 11:42:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Sam Houston women's tennis team opens its 2016 season with three consecutive afternoons of competition at the McAdams Tennis Center on campus this weekend.
The Bearkats play host to LSU-Alexandria on Friday, Louisiana Tech on Saturday and Prairie View A&M on Sunday. First serve for all three matches is at 1 p.m.
“It exciting to get started,” Sam Houston head coach Jim Giachino said. “We have a core group that has worked as hard as any team I've coached during the off season. Everyone is ready to get the season started.”
NCAA Division I and Southland Conference women's tennis will again use the seven-point dual match scoring formula with a team point for each individual singles victory and a doubles point for the squad that wins two of the three doubles contests. The only change in the format is that doubles now will be six-game set with no ad scoring (replacing the eight-game pro set in past seasons).
“Winning matches is always important but right now our goal is to see where we are as a team, to get used to competition and see where we need to evolve as the season progresses. We have just under a month to get ready for Southland Conference play.”
The 2016 season Bearkat features a mix of five returning players from last year and three newcomers. Maddie Mortimore from Farnham, Surrey in the United Kingdom is the lone senior on the squad. She is joined by sophomores Caitlyn Mitchell from Nhulunbury, Northern Territories, Australia; Fabienne Gettwart from Dreiech, Hessen, Germany and Mila Milanovic from Leloda, Spain and junior Bailey VanDyke from Montgomery, Texas.
Newcomers include freshman Ema Barkovic from Rijeka, Crotia and sophomores Carrie Casey from Franklin, Texas, and Khee Yen Wee from Singapore.
“Each of our opponents this weekend will be a good test for the team,” Giachino said. “All three teams have already started their schedules while we will be competing for the first time. That's a challenge. But, each day, the opportunity for success will be on our side of the court. If we play our game, keep the mental mistakes to a minimum and compete hard, the results should come.”
Prairie View travels to Huntsville with five matches under their belts. The Panthers have faced a strong schedule against Southland Conference opponents A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin and top teams from UTSA and Louisiana-Lafayette. Louisiana Tech opened this season this week against Prairie View. LSU-Alexandria lost a close 4-3 decision to Nicholls in the General's first match.
Following this weekend's contests, Sam Houston will travel to Dallas to play SMU and Montana State on Saturday and Sunday Feb. 5 and 6 before returning to the McAdams Center to play host to South Dakota State on Sunday Feb. 14.
There is no admission charge at the McAdams Tennis Center for Sam Houston women's matches.
