HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's tennis team will open the spring portion of its 2019 season on Sunday, when it faces in-state foe Tulane at the City Park Tennis Center in New Orleans.
The Lions enter the spring looking to build on a successful fall. Head coach
Jason Hayes knows the level of competition will step up a notch during the spring and is excited to see how his young squad responds.
"We did some nice things this fall, but everyone's always looking ahead to spring," Hayes commented. "Team versus team competition is a different animal and we've been working hard to be ready for that level of play."
What SLU lacks in experience, they will make up with talent. Senior
Ceci Mercier, along with sophomores
Ximena Yanez and
Katya Cornejo are the top returners for the Lions. Newcomers such as
Putri Insani,
Flory Bierma,
Himani Mor,
Bernadette Dornieden and
Vicky Scholz will be looked upon to team with the returning core to help move Southeastern up the Southland Conference standings.
While Hayes is confident in his roster, he's also aware that some growing pains can be expected as well.
"We're more talented than we were last year and we're better equipped for success at the top of the singles draw," Hayes said. "That being said, six of our 10 players will be playing their first Division I dual match on Sunday. Our team has already developed great chemistry off the court and we expect that this team is going to get better as the season unfolds."
With so many new faces, Hayes will spend the month-plus before the March 1 conference opener versus Abilene Christian finding the best lineups, especially in doubles.
"We're confident after the fall that we have a true number 1 in Putri, but how the rest of the lineup behind her stacks up is a work in progress," Hayes stated. "We've been experimenting with a lot of doubles pairings to find out who is most comfortable teaming together."
Tulane (1-0) opened the spring with a 4-3 victory over Northwestern State last weekend. The Green Wave will play McNeese (Saturday, 1 p.m.) and Southern (Sunday, noon) before capping a busy weekend with Sunday's match versus the Lions.
Following Sunday's match, Southeastern will open the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, Feb. 2, hosting LSU Alexandria at noon at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
40 LOVE CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the tennis program are encouraged to join the 40 Love Club. Lion tennis alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
All membership fees and donations to both the 40 Love Club and S Club (tennis) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern tennis program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Tennis, follow @SLU_Tennis on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
