HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana tennis team will look to build on an impressive fall when it opens the spring season versus Alcorn State Friday at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
The visiting Braves will come to Hammond for a pair of matches. First serve for the opener is set for 12 p.m. with the nightcap set for 4 p.m.
The top returner for the Lions in singles play is three-time first team All-Southland Conference senior
Renee Villarreal. The Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico native is coming off a 17-2 junior season on the No. 1 court and is ninth in school history with a 55-6 singles record.
Head coach
Jason Hayes expects the other veterans – junior
Margaux Kaltenbacher, as well as sophomores
Dany Raygadas,
Lucia Bustamante,
Madina Vorotnikova and
Natalie Duran – to take a step forward in 2016.
The Lion roster will also be bolstered by a pair of transfers with Division I experience. Sophomores
Dalina Dahlmans (previously at New Mexico) and Ceci Mercier (Wyoming) are expected to pay immediate dividends.
Dahlmans served notice of her impact in doubles play during the fall, as she and Villarreal established themselves as the team's premier pairing. The duo won the top doubles flight at each of the final three tournaments of the fall.
Mercier and Bustamante also proved to be a formidable doubles team in the fall, while Raygadas and Kaltenbacher will also push for playing time. Duran and Vorotnikova round out SLU's doubles pairings.
Friday's twin bill is the first of four matches at home for SLU this spring. Southeastern will welcome Louisiana-Lafayette (Feb. 6) and Southern (Feb. 11) to Hammond next with Jackson State (March 5), Akron (March 21) and Arkansas State (April 1) also slated to visit for non-conference matches.
Southeastern begins non-conference play with a Feb. 14 match at Southern Miss. The Lions will also travel to non-conference foes South Alabama (Feb. 20), Southern (March 3), LSU-Alexandria (March 26) and Alcorn State (April 6).
Southland Conference play opens with a Feb. 27 match at Sam Houston State. Other league road matches for SLU include trips to Lamar (Feb. 28), Incarnate Word (March 11), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 12), Stephen F. Austin (March 25) and Northwestern State (March 26).
SLU's home Southland slate opens on March 5 versus Central Arkansas and includes matches with Abilene Christian (March 17), New Orleans (April 3), McNeese State (April 9) and Nicholls (April 10).
