HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston women's tennis team will open its 2025 dual-match spring schedule this weekend with three home matches at the new Chuck and Wanda Beckner Tennis Center.
The Bearkats will open the season by playing host to Prairie View in a doubleheader on Friday with matches beginning at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Kats will then battle the Rice Owls Saturday at 1 p.m.
Sam Houston was originally scheduled to open the season on Saturday vs Rice, but looming inclement weather prompted the Kats and Prairie View to push up its twinbill to Friday.
The contests mark Sam Houston's first events in its new six-court tennis facility located at 515 Bowers Blvd., across from Don Sanders Stadium. The Kats saw their first action in the new facility in October when Sam Houston played host to Lamar, UTSA and UTRGV in the annual Bearkat Fall Invitational.
Kats' head coach Rob Hubbard fielded a team during fall semester tournament action headlined by returning letterwinner Aaliyah Hohmann and transfers Christine Jevicky (Angelo State), Adithi Venkata Krishnan (Utah Tech), Sara Sadadinovic (James Madison), Jacqueline Schnabel (Texas State) and Nayuma Subba (Fresno Pacific).
Sam Houston strengthened its roster during the holiday break by bringing ITF world-ranked freshman Ella Fitcher from Melbourne, Australia, to Huntsville to extend the Kat roster to seven players.
Fitcher played as captain of the Essendon Tennis Club Team which competes in the highest club league in Victoria. The freshman has Texas ties, having trained at the John Newcombe Tennis Academy in New Braunfels. She was a quarterfinalist in singles and doubles at the ITF J60 event in Lautoka, Fiji.
"I was excited about the overall performance of our young team during the fall," Bearkat head coach Rob Hubbard said. "With so many new faces on the squad it was exciting to see how these young players came together as a team. We improved with every event. The ladies have shown that they want to compete. Adding a talented newcomer with international experience like Ella is going to give us an extra boost."
The Kats enter the weekend having met both the Panthers and Owls 21 times apiece. The series vs PV began in 1986, while the series vs Rice began a year later.
