Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of a successful season as they went 10-8 overall with a perfect 6-0 in A-SUN Conference play. They would win the A-SUN Regular Season Championship and the #1 seed in the conference tournament before falling to Stetson in the semifinals.
The women's tennis has yet to make it to national tournament, let alone win the A-SUN Conference Championship.
The team is led by head coach Courtney Vernon or Coach "V" as I call her. Vernon enters her sixth season as head coach for the team. The three-time reigning defending A-SUN Coach of the Year prepares for a new team with seven returners on the team.
Losses and Gains:
With a new team comes changes in players and coaches. Oh don't worry, coach V will be leading the team to victory. She'll still be around along with the returners.
For losses, the team will lose Julianna "Juje" Curtis as the 2017 A-SUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year, three-time A-SUN All-Academic Team member and two-time ITF Scholar-Athlete has graduated on the same day as me. Former women's tennis player and assistant coach Alexandra Landert has also departed. Despite that, the Eagles did gain new players and a new coach.
Joining the coaching staff as an assistant coach is Marina Frantova. A native of Bratislava, Slovakia, Frantova was a standout player for Mississippi and NC State. As a member of the Bulldogs, Frantova was 13-11 in singles and 14-12 in doubles and ranked No. 52 in doubles on ITA national rankings, No. 17 in singles and No. 4 in doubles on ITA Southern Regional rankings. As a member of the Wolfpack, Frantova comes with a plethora of experience on her resume:
- A two-time All-ACC Second Team selection
- Named 2016 ITA Carolina Region Player to Watch
- Defeated 11 nationally-ranked singles opponents her junior year, half of which held higher rankings highlighted by wins over No. 42 Anna Shkudun of No. 24 Syracuse and No. 41 Kaitlyn McCarthy of No. 8 Duke
- Fourth Wolfpack player in program history to earn NCAA Singles Championship bid
- Qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championship where she and her partner, Anna Rogers, advanced to the Sweet 16, the first time a doubles tandem from NC State moved passed the first round her senior year.
- Earned 23 doubles wins during the dual season, the second-most in program history behind Rogers and 12 singles wins.
- At the 2017 NCAA Tournament, she helped her team advance to the Second Round by defeating No. 79 Alyssa Tobita of Oregon.
- Defeated six ranked competitors, highlighted by a win over No. 65 Anastasia Rychagova of Kansas (2017)
- Consistently ranked in the ITA singles poll, peaking at No. 30. (2017)
As far as new players, the only one that signed for fall 2018 is Ariana Chan. A native of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Chan is the lone freshman on the team so far. Chan has participated in the 2018 Fed Cup in Guayaquil and 2016 Junior Fed Cup in Brazil and won the Copa Quito ITF 2018 in singles play and was a doubles finalist while being ranked #1 in Ecuador in 2015 and 2016 and ranked as high as #570 in the ITF, UTR ratings.
"It's wonderful having Ariana to the FGCU family," said Vernon. "She has proven over the fall that she intends to be fully committed to this team and working hard every day. We're looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and challenge herself each day."
After forgoing the 2017-18 season to play professionally, junior Sara Kelly returns to the Eagles as a redshirt sophomore. A former A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and 2017 ITF Scholar-Athlete with fellow junior Bridget Forster, Kelly produced a 10-7 record in dual matches and 16-11 overall in her first season with the Eagles and was one of five Eagles to register double digit singles wins. In addition, while teaming with Forster, the Naples native primarily paired with Forster to go 8-2 in dual matches and 2-2 in the A-SUN at #2 and #3 doubles.
On signing day, the Eagles signed two more international players to join the team as freshman for fall 2019: Ida Ferding from Sweden and Alba Retortillo from Spain.
Key Returners:
Aside from the departure of Curtis, all seven members from last year's team have returned: seniors Julia Ascúa, Laura Falceto and Patricia "Patri" Villar, juniors Maja Ornberg, Forster and Sofia Perez and lone sophomore Madison "Maddy" Gallegos.
Ascúa, who began the first three matches last season at #1 singles before transitioning to #2 for the rest of the way, picked up seven singles dual wins, which was the second-most in the conference and four in singles. The native of Santa Fe, Argentina finished her junior 8-10 in dual singles (14-14 overall) and 4-14 in doubles, mainly playing with Ornberg, but was able to be named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team (third straight) and All-Academic Team (2nd straight) while being named an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
In her overall career, going into her senior year, Ascúa has produced 30 singles wins and 32 doubles wins with most of them teaming with Curtis from her freshman and sophomore year.
A native of Zaragoza, Spain, Falceto was limited for the 2018 season with a foot injury. Falceto was 6-7 in dual singles, primarily at #4 and 6-6 in doubles playing with Curtis. She was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete at the end of the season.
Falceto has produced 32 dual singles wins and 20 in doubles in her career with FGCU.
After transferring from Louisiana-Monroe as a junior, Villar has grown accustom to playing in doubles, primarily with Gallegos. The native of Logrono, Spain finished her junior year 6-6 in singles (3-0 in conference) and 9-3 in doubles (5-0 in conference). In the end, Villar was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Doubles #3 Team with Gallegos while also being named an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Villar has 30 career singles win, which include the 24 she had at Louisiana-Monroe.
A native of Kil, Sweden, Ornberg will be defending her title as A-SUN Player of the Year. After playing at #2 singles for first five matches of the season, Ornberg was placed back at #1 singles where she went 12-1 at that position. The former A-SUN Freshman of the Year compiled a 15-3 dual singles record with a perfect 6-0 record in conference (one of three players). Along with being named A-SUN Player of the Year, Ornberg was also named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team for the second straight while also being an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Primarily playing between #5 and #6 singles, Forster is coming off of a 11-3 dual with a perfect 6-0 in conference in singles while being named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Academic Team while earning her second ITA Scholar-Athlete recognition.
After receiving a push for her sophomore year, Perez is coming off of a 10-5 dual record in singles, playing primarily at #5 singles while holding a 3-5 record in doubles, mainly with Forster. The Costa Rican helped the Eagles clinch a share and eventually the A-SUN Regular Season Championship after defeating UNF's Valentina Mariotto and Stetson's Brooke Milner. Throughout the season, Perez had three-match clutch point winners, all in conference (Kennesaw, UNF, Stetson).
As a result, Perez was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and as a ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Last season, Gallegos was the only freshman on the team and was named a unanimous member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team and A-SUN All-Doubles #3 Team with Villar and an ITA Scholar-Athlete. The Denver native had a 9-8 dual record in singles, primarily at #3 singles and a 7-5 dual record in doubles, mainly with Villar.
Like Perez, Gallegos had her share of clutch point winners. In the opening match against FAU, Gallegos secured the match for the 4-3 win. She also had clutch point wins against Minnesota, and Western Michigan.
Schedule Breakdown (non-conference):
For non-conference, the Eagles will have four Power 5 Conference schools on their schedule: Miami, Florida State (FSU), Iowa and Wisconsin.
For first time matchups, Chattanooga will join Iowa and Wisconsin on that list.
Aside from Miami and FSU, other previous teams that they will play are as noted: USF, Georgia State, MTSU, Houston, Furman and FAU.
Overall on the non-conference schedule, the Eagles will face four that have been to the national tournament last year: Georgia State, Miami (in doubles), FSU and Furman.
Scouting USF:
Led by head coach Cristina Moros, who enters her fourth season as head coach, the Bulls are coming off of a 12-10 record with a 4-2 record in the AAC. They would fall to Southern Methodist in the quarterfinals of the AAC Conference Tournament.
They will be losing Julia Cardoso and Jessica Cortes Chaves as they graduated and junior Zea Riguad, whose status is unknown, but did gain three freshmen in the long run: Amelie Boy, Laura Pellicer Perello and Selin Yaylali.
Key returners for the Bulls include seniors Vanja Klaric and Nicole Dzenga and sophomore Evelyne Tiron.
Klaric went 13-8 in singles, primarily at #4 singles, and 14-7 in doubles, primarily rotating between #1 and #2 doubles with Dzenga. She was named a member of the AAC All-Conference Team.
Dzenga was 12-5 in singles, playing mostly at #5 and #6 singles, and 14-7 in doubles, primarily rotating between #1 and #2 doubles with Klaric.
Primarily playing at #2 singles, Tiron was 11-8 in singles and 3-1 in doubles.
The Bulls hold a 7-1 record against the Eagles. The Bulls won 4-3 last season. The Eagles lone win was on January 24, 2017 where the Eagles won 5-2 at home.
Scouting Georgia State:
The Panthers are led by first-year head coach Alex Leatu, who takes over in place of Jason Marshall. Leatu joined after spending her two years as the head women's tennis coach at NCAA DII New Haven.
The Panthers are coming off of a 12-15 record with a 4-3 record in the Sun Belt. They earned a automatic bid in the national tournament after winning the Sun Belt Championship before falling to Georgia in the first round of the national tournament.
The Panthers will be without Kristin Rehse as she graduated, but did manage to sign three new freshmen to the team: Arielle Nealy, Andreea Stanescu and Eva Chivu.
Key returners include senior Daniela Ramirez and junior Damira Muminović.
Rotating between #2 and #3 singles, Ramirez is coming off a 13-6 record in singles and a 5-7 record in doubles, pairing mainly with now junior Anastasia Grosheva.
Muminović is coming off of a 12-8 record in singles (primarily at #4) and a 2-11 record in doubles.
The Eagles are 0-2 against the Panthers with their most loss being last season on February 23, 2018 at home.
Scouting Miami:
Miami is led by head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, who enters her 21st season as head coach.
The Hurricanes are coming off of a 18-8 record overall with a 11-3 record in the ACC while being ranked #15 in the ITA National Poll. They would finish as the ACC tournament runner-up, but managed to make it to the national tournament as an at-large bid and went to the Sweet 16 in doubles.
Miami will be without six players: Silvia Fuentes, Sinead Lohan, juniors Sara Culbertson and Dominka Paterova, Pamela Richter and Sharon Danquah.
Fuentes and Lohan have graduated from the program.
Culbertson has transferred to UCF while Paterova transferred to UC-Santa Barbara.
It is unknown for Richter and Danquah and their statuses.
The Hurricanes did manage to sign two new players to the team: Lucia Marzal Martinez and Yuna Ito.
A native of Valencia, Spain, Martinez joins the team as a freshman where she ascended as high as No. 495 in the ITF Juniors singles rankings in May 2016, No. 850 in the WTA singles rankings in August 2018, and No. 27 in Spain. She has posted a a 69-43 mark in WTA singles matches, dating back to Oct. 2014, which included 61 wins on players from 20 different countries.
Ito, a native of Kanagawa, Japan, joins as a junior with two years of eligibility remaining after spending her freshman and sophomore year at NJCAA Tyler Junior College (Tx). In her career at Tyler, Ito put together a 42-3 record in singles and 35-6 record in doubles. Ito aided the Apache to two NJCAA DI national title appearance with sophomore year bringing in the 19th in program history while being named a two-time NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Award recipient.
Key returners for the Canes include junior Estela Perez-Somarriba and sophomore Ulyana Shirokova.
Perez-Somarriba is coming off of a 23-3 dual record in singles (#1 singles) and a 9-11 dual record in doubles (primarily at #3). The native of Madrid, Spain paired with now seniors Ana Madcur and Daniella Roldan. As a result of her hard work, Perez-Somarriba was named ACC Player of the Year, ITA National Player to Watch, ITA Southeast Region Player to Watch, an ITA All-American in singles, an ITA Scholar-Athlete and named a member of the All-ACC First Team and All-ACC Academic Team.
Shirokova, a native of Moscow, is coming off of a 15-6 dual record in singles, primarily at #5 singles, and a 19-4 dual record in doubles, pairing mainly with Paterova before she transferred and Lohan before she graduated.
The Eagles are 0-4 against the Canes with their most recent loss being a last minute add on after not being able to travel to Georgia to play Georgia Southern and former A-SUN Conference member Mercer due to inclement weather. The Eagles fell 6-1 in Miami on February 10, 2018.
Scouting MTSU:
MTSU is led by Tayo Bailey-Duvall. Bailey-Duvall enters her 11th season as head coach.
The Blue Raiders are coming off of a 19-8 overall record with a 3-2 record in Conference USA where they finished as the C-USA tournament runner-up.
The Blue Raiders will lose Maria Josefina Zehnder as she graduated.
Key returners for MTSU include sophomore twin sisters, Lee and Zani Barnard, junior Lidia Burrows and seniors Kim Kermet and Luisa Zirilli.
Lee is coming off of a 11-3 dual record in singles, primarily playing at #4 and #6, and a 9-8 record in doubles while Zani is coming off of a 11-2 dual record in singles, playing between #4 and #6, and a 6-5 record in doubles. The duo from Midstream, South Africa have a 6-5 record together in doubles.
Burrows, a native of West Yorkshire, England, is coming off of a 13-9 record in singles, mainly playing between #4 and #5 singles while being named on the C-USA Commissioner's List.
After spending her first two seasons at Tennessee, Kermet is coming off of a 14-8 record in singles, majorly at #3 and a 10-8 record in doubles teaming majorly with Zirilli for MTSU. The West Palm Beach native was named a member of the Conference USA Second Team in singles and on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll.
A native of Messina, Italy, Zirilli is entering her senior year after finishing 11-5 in dual singles (#6) and a 10-8 record in doubles (#1 with Kermet). Zirilli joined Burrows on the C-USA Commissioner's List.
The Eagles are 1-1 against the Blue Raiders. Last time, the Eagles won 5-2 at home last season.
Scouting FAU:
Led by Marcy Hora-Cava, who enter her seventh season as head coach, the Owls are coming off of a 11-8 overall record with a 2-2 record in Conference USA while participating in the C-USA Tournament.
The team will be without Jennifer Lieb and Marisa Ruiz as they graduated. They will also be without juniors Aliona Bolsova and Naiya Oden are also not on the team. While Oden status is unknown, Bolsova decided to turn pro. The defending C-USA Newcomer and Player of the Year played only one season with the Owls as well as one season with Oklahoma State. The Spaniard posted a 17-0 dual record in singles (#1 singles) and a 12-3 record in doubles (#1 doubles).
Despite the four losses, the Owls did manage to gain one newcomer for January 2019, Barbora Palcatova. Palcatova, a native of Slovakia, Palcatova holds a singles University Tennis Rating (UTR) of 11.16 and an 11.76 in doubles.
Key returners for the Owls include sophomore Natalia Boltinskaya and redshirt sophomore Jacara Gillis.
Boltinskaya is coming off of a 13-5 singles record (#2 singles) and a 9-8 doubles record (#3 doubles) while Gillis is coming off of a 12-6 singles record (#4 singles) and a 3-5 record in doubles (#3 doubles). Gillis was named a member of the C-USA’s Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
The Eagles are 9-2 against the Owls. Last season, the Eagles opened their season on the road and defeated FAU 4-3 with the help of Gallegos securing the final match point.
Scouting FSU:
FSU is led by Jennifer Hyde. Hyde enters her 15th season as head coach for the Seminoles.
The Seminoles are coming off of a 21-9 overall record with a 8-5 record in the ACC while being ranked #17 in the ITA National Poll. Despite finishing as the runner-up in the ACC Tournament, the Seminoles made it to the national tournament and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before falling to #2 Vanderbilt.
The Seminoles will be without Gabriella Castaneda, junior Gabrielle Goldin and sophomore Lucie Prochazkova.
Castaneda graduated while Goldin transferred to Missouri with two years remaining and Prochazkova transferred to UIC with three years remaining.
They did gain in newcomer for one season, senior Ana Oparenovic. A native of Celje, Slovenia, Oparenovic joins FSU after transferring from Arkansas with one year of eligibility remaining.
Oparenovic led the Razorbacks in both singles and doubles wins last season. She amassed 23 wins in singles with a 15-9 dual record. She played all of her matches on courts one and two with a 5-3 record on court one and a 10-6 record on court two. In doubles, Oparenovic was 25-9 with a 17-5 record last spring. She played all but one of her matches on court one and went 16-5.
After a break from Conference, the Eagles will play Power 5 Wisconsin (March 20 @5 P.M.) for their final non-conference match, before resuming conference play with two more home matches against NJIT (March 23 @5 P.M.) and UNF (March 28 @5 P.M.) before their three-match road to face Stetson (March 30 @10 A.M.), North Alabama (April 4 @10 A.M.) and Lipscomb (April 6 @ noon). They will then return for their final home match against Kennesaw where it will be senior day for Ascúa, Falceto and Villar.
"It's wonderful having Ariana to the FGCU family," said Vernon. "She has proven over the fall that she intends to be fully committed to this team and working hard every day. We're looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and challenge herself each day."
After forgoing the 2017-18 season to play professionally, junior Sara Kelly returns to the Eagles as a redshirt sophomore. A former A-SUN All-Freshman Team member and 2017 ITF Scholar-Athlete with fellow junior Bridget Forster, Kelly produced a 10-7 record in dual matches and 16-11 overall in her first season with the Eagles and was one of five Eagles to register double digit singles wins. In addition, while teaming with Forster, the Naples native primarily paired with Forster to go 8-2 in dual matches and 2-2 in the A-SUN at #2 and #3 doubles.
On signing day, the Eagles signed two more international players to join the team as freshman for fall 2019: Ida Ferding from Sweden and Alba Retortillo from Spain.
Key Returners:
Aside from the departure of Curtis, all seven members from last year's team have returned: seniors Julia Ascúa, Laura Falceto and Patricia "Patri" Villar, juniors Maja Ornberg, Forster and Sofia Perez and lone sophomore Madison "Maddy" Gallegos.
Ascúa, who began the first three matches last season at #1 singles before transitioning to #2 for the rest of the way, picked up seven singles dual wins, which was the second-most in the conference and four in singles. The native of Santa Fe, Argentina finished her junior 8-10 in dual singles (14-14 overall) and 4-14 in doubles, mainly playing with Ornberg, but was able to be named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team (third straight) and All-Academic Team (2nd straight) while being named an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
In her overall career, going into her senior year, Ascúa has produced 30 singles wins and 32 doubles wins with most of them teaming with Curtis from her freshman and sophomore year.
A native of Zaragoza, Spain, Falceto was limited for the 2018 season with a foot injury. Falceto was 6-7 in dual singles, primarily at #4 and 6-6 in doubles playing with Curtis. She was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete at the end of the season.
Falceto has produced 32 dual singles wins and 20 in doubles in her career with FGCU.
After transferring from Louisiana-Monroe as a junior, Villar has grown accustom to playing in doubles, primarily with Gallegos. The native of Logrono, Spain finished her junior year 6-6 in singles (3-0 in conference) and 9-3 in doubles (5-0 in conference). In the end, Villar was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Doubles #3 Team with Gallegos while also being named an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Villar has 30 career singles win, which include the 24 she had at Louisiana-Monroe.
A native of Kil, Sweden, Ornberg will be defending her title as A-SUN Player of the Year. After playing at #2 singles for first five matches of the season, Ornberg was placed back at #1 singles where she went 12-1 at that position. The former A-SUN Freshman of the Year compiled a 15-3 dual singles record with a perfect 6-0 record in conference (one of three players). Along with being named A-SUN Player of the Year, Ornberg was also named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team for the second straight while also being an ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Primarily playing between #5 and #6 singles, Forster is coming off of a 11-3 dual with a perfect 6-0 in conference in singles while being named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Academic Team while earning her second ITA Scholar-Athlete recognition.
After receiving a push for her sophomore year, Perez is coming off of a 10-5 dual record in singles, playing primarily at #5 singles while holding a 3-5 record in doubles, mainly with Forster. The Costa Rican helped the Eagles clinch a share and eventually the A-SUN Regular Season Championship after defeating UNF's Valentina Mariotto and Stetson's Brooke Milner. Throughout the season, Perez had three-match clutch point winners, all in conference (Kennesaw, UNF, Stetson).
As a result, Perez was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and as a ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Last season, Gallegos was the only freshman on the team and was named a unanimous member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team and A-SUN All-Doubles #3 Team with Villar and an ITA Scholar-Athlete. The Denver native had a 9-8 dual record in singles, primarily at #3 singles and a 7-5 dual record in doubles, mainly with Villar.
Like Perez, Gallegos had her share of clutch point winners. In the opening match against FAU, Gallegos secured the match for the 4-3 win. She also had clutch point wins against Minnesota, and Western Michigan.
Schedule Breakdown (non-conference):
For non-conference, the Eagles will have four Power 5 Conference schools on their schedule: Miami, Florida State (FSU), Iowa and Wisconsin.
For first time matchups, Chattanooga will join Iowa and Wisconsin on that list.
Aside from Miami and FSU, other previous teams that they will play are as noted: USF, Georgia State, MTSU, Houston, Furman and FAU.
Overall on the non-conference schedule, the Eagles will face four that have been to the national tournament last year: Georgia State, Miami (in doubles), FSU and Furman.
Scouting USF:
Led by head coach Cristina Moros, who enters her fourth season as head coach, the Bulls are coming off of a 12-10 record with a 4-2 record in the AAC. They would fall to Southern Methodist in the quarterfinals of the AAC Conference Tournament.
They will be losing Julia Cardoso and Jessica Cortes Chaves as they graduated and junior Zea Riguad, whose status is unknown, but did gain three freshmen in the long run: Amelie Boy, Laura Pellicer Perello and Selin Yaylali.
Key returners for the Bulls include seniors Vanja Klaric and Nicole Dzenga and sophomore Evelyne Tiron.
Klaric went 13-8 in singles, primarily at #4 singles, and 14-7 in doubles, primarily rotating between #1 and #2 doubles with Dzenga. She was named a member of the AAC All-Conference Team.
Dzenga was 12-5 in singles, playing mostly at #5 and #6 singles, and 14-7 in doubles, primarily rotating between #1 and #2 doubles with Klaric.
Primarily playing at #2 singles, Tiron was 11-8 in singles and 3-1 in doubles.
The Bulls hold a 7-1 record against the Eagles. The Bulls won 4-3 last season. The Eagles lone win was on January 24, 2017 where the Eagles won 5-2 at home.
Scouting Georgia State:
The Panthers are led by first-year head coach Alex Leatu, who takes over in place of Jason Marshall. Leatu joined after spending her two years as the head women's tennis coach at NCAA DII New Haven.
The Panthers are coming off of a 12-15 record with a 4-3 record in the Sun Belt. They earned a automatic bid in the national tournament after winning the Sun Belt Championship before falling to Georgia in the first round of the national tournament.
The Panthers will be without Kristin Rehse as she graduated, but did manage to sign three new freshmen to the team: Arielle Nealy, Andreea Stanescu and Eva Chivu.
Key returners include senior Daniela Ramirez and junior Damira Muminović.
Rotating between #2 and #3 singles, Ramirez is coming off a 13-6 record in singles and a 5-7 record in doubles, pairing mainly with now junior Anastasia Grosheva.
Muminović is coming off of a 12-8 record in singles (primarily at #4) and a 2-11 record in doubles.
The Eagles are 0-2 against the Panthers with their most loss being last season on February 23, 2018 at home.
Scouting Miami:
Miami is led by head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, who enters her 21st season as head coach.
The Hurricanes are coming off of a 18-8 record overall with a 11-3 record in the ACC while being ranked #15 in the ITA National Poll. They would finish as the ACC tournament runner-up, but managed to make it to the national tournament as an at-large bid and went to the Sweet 16 in doubles.
Miami will be without six players: Silvia Fuentes, Sinead Lohan, juniors Sara Culbertson and Dominka Paterova, Pamela Richter and Sharon Danquah.
Fuentes and Lohan have graduated from the program.
Culbertson has transferred to UCF while Paterova transferred to UC-Santa Barbara.
It is unknown for Richter and Danquah and their statuses.
The Hurricanes did manage to sign two new players to the team: Lucia Marzal Martinez and Yuna Ito.
A native of Valencia, Spain, Martinez joins the team as a freshman where she ascended as high as No. 495 in the ITF Juniors singles rankings in May 2016, No. 850 in the WTA singles rankings in August 2018, and No. 27 in Spain. She has posted a a 69-43 mark in WTA singles matches, dating back to Oct. 2014, which included 61 wins on players from 20 different countries.
Ito, a native of Kanagawa, Japan, joins as a junior with two years of eligibility remaining after spending her freshman and sophomore year at NJCAA Tyler Junior College (Tx). In her career at Tyler, Ito put together a 42-3 record in singles and 35-6 record in doubles. Ito aided the Apache to two NJCAA DI national title appearance with sophomore year bringing in the 19th in program history while being named a two-time NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Award recipient.
Key returners for the Canes include junior Estela Perez-Somarriba and sophomore Ulyana Shirokova.
Perez-Somarriba is coming off of a 23-3 dual record in singles (#1 singles) and a 9-11 dual record in doubles (primarily at #3). The native of Madrid, Spain paired with now seniors Ana Madcur and Daniella Roldan. As a result of her hard work, Perez-Somarriba was named ACC Player of the Year, ITA National Player to Watch, ITA Southeast Region Player to Watch, an ITA All-American in singles, an ITA Scholar-Athlete and named a member of the All-ACC First Team and All-ACC Academic Team.
Shirokova, a native of Moscow, is coming off of a 15-6 dual record in singles, primarily at #5 singles, and a 19-4 dual record in doubles, pairing mainly with Paterova before she transferred and Lohan before she graduated.
The Eagles are 0-4 against the Canes with their most recent loss being a last minute add on after not being able to travel to Georgia to play Georgia Southern and former A-SUN Conference member Mercer due to inclement weather. The Eagles fell 6-1 in Miami on February 10, 2018.
Scouting MTSU:
MTSU is led by Tayo Bailey-Duvall. Bailey-Duvall enters her 11th season as head coach.
The Blue Raiders are coming off of a 19-8 overall record with a 3-2 record in Conference USA where they finished as the C-USA tournament runner-up.
The Blue Raiders will lose Maria Josefina Zehnder as she graduated.
Key returners for MTSU include sophomore twin sisters, Lee and Zani Barnard, junior Lidia Burrows and seniors Kim Kermet and Luisa Zirilli.
Lee is coming off of a 11-3 dual record in singles, primarily playing at #4 and #6, and a 9-8 record in doubles while Zani is coming off of a 11-2 dual record in singles, playing between #4 and #6, and a 6-5 record in doubles. The duo from Midstream, South Africa have a 6-5 record together in doubles.
Burrows, a native of West Yorkshire, England, is coming off of a 13-9 record in singles, mainly playing between #4 and #5 singles while being named on the C-USA Commissioner's List.
After spending her first two seasons at Tennessee, Kermet is coming off of a 14-8 record in singles, majorly at #3 and a 10-8 record in doubles teaming majorly with Zirilli for MTSU. The West Palm Beach native was named a member of the Conference USA Second Team in singles and on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll.
A native of Messina, Italy, Zirilli is entering her senior year after finishing 11-5 in dual singles (#6) and a 10-8 record in doubles (#1 with Kermet). Zirilli joined Burrows on the C-USA Commissioner's List.
The Eagles are 1-1 against the Blue Raiders. Last time, the Eagles won 5-2 at home last season.
Scouting FAU:
Led by Marcy Hora-Cava, who enter her seventh season as head coach, the Owls are coming off of a 11-8 overall record with a 2-2 record in Conference USA while participating in the C-USA Tournament.
The team will be without Jennifer Lieb and Marisa Ruiz as they graduated. They will also be without juniors Aliona Bolsova and Naiya Oden are also not on the team. While Oden status is unknown, Bolsova decided to turn pro. The defending C-USA Newcomer and Player of the Year played only one season with the Owls as well as one season with Oklahoma State. The Spaniard posted a 17-0 dual record in singles (#1 singles) and a 12-3 record in doubles (#1 doubles).
Despite the four losses, the Owls did manage to gain one newcomer for January 2019, Barbora Palcatova. Palcatova, a native of Slovakia, Palcatova holds a singles University Tennis Rating (UTR) of 11.16 and an 11.76 in doubles.
Key returners for the Owls include sophomore Natalia Boltinskaya and redshirt sophomore Jacara Gillis.
Boltinskaya is coming off of a 13-5 singles record (#2 singles) and a 9-8 doubles record (#3 doubles) while Gillis is coming off of a 12-6 singles record (#4 singles) and a 3-5 record in doubles (#3 doubles). Gillis was named a member of the C-USA’s Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
The Eagles are 9-2 against the Owls. Last season, the Eagles opened their season on the road and defeated FAU 4-3 with the help of Gallegos securing the final match point.
Scouting FSU:
FSU is led by Jennifer Hyde. Hyde enters her 15th season as head coach for the Seminoles.
The Seminoles are coming off of a 21-9 overall record with a 8-5 record in the ACC while being ranked #17 in the ITA National Poll. Despite finishing as the runner-up in the ACC Tournament, the Seminoles made it to the national tournament and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before falling to #2 Vanderbilt.
The Seminoles will be without Gabriella Castaneda, junior Gabrielle Goldin and sophomore Lucie Prochazkova.
Castaneda graduated while Goldin transferred to Missouri with two years remaining and Prochazkova transferred to UIC with three years remaining.
They did gain in newcomer for one season, senior Ana Oparenovic. A native of Celje, Slovenia, Oparenovic joins FSU after transferring from Arkansas with one year of eligibility remaining.
Oparenovic led the Razorbacks in both singles and doubles wins last season. She amassed 23 wins in singles with a 15-9 dual record. She played all of her matches on courts one and two with a 5-3 record on court one and a 10-6 record on court two. In doubles, Oparenovic was 25-9 with a 17-5 record last spring. She played all but one of her matches on court one and went 16-5.
Oparenovic was named on the All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Tournament Team and made it to the NCAA Doubles Championships before losing in the first round.
Key returners for the Seminoles include junior Andrea Garcia and sophomore Petra Hule.
A native of Asturias, Spain, Garcia is coming off of a 19-5 dual singles record (primarily #2) and a 14-9 record in doubles. Garcia was named a member of the All-ACC Academic Team.
Key returners for the Seminoles include junior Andrea Garcia and sophomore Petra Hule.
A native of Asturias, Spain, Garcia is coming off of a 19-5 dual singles record (primarily #2) and a 14-9 record in doubles. Garcia was named a member of the All-ACC Academic Team.
Hule, a native of Adelaide, Australia, is coming off of a 18-8 dual singles record (primarily #6) and a 16-4 record in doubles. Huled joined Garcia as well as junior Carla Touly and senior Ariana Rahmanparast on the All-ACC Academic Team.
In addition, head coach Jennifer Hyde has hired a new assistant coach: Matej Zlatkovic. Zlatkovic spent his last season as assistant coach for Rice University.
The Eagles are 0-2 against the Seminoles. The Eagles fell 4-0 to the Seminoles on February 23, 2017.
Scouting Houston:
This will be the second time both teams meet. The first time was on February 16, 2013 where the Cougars won 4-3.
Houston is led by first year head coach Helena Besovic who is the 10th head coach for the program. Besovic last coached at McNeese State where she was the 2018 Southland Conference Coach of the Year and the Louisiana Coach of the Year and led McNeese to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance while sweeping the Southland regular season and conference tournament championships. Both conference titles were the first in McNeese history.
The Cougars are coming off of a 20-2 season with a 2-2 record in the AAC where they were quarterfinalist in the conference tournament.
All but one player has departed from the team as Ana Glumac, Sveva Mazzari and Alison Mills have graduated.
Four players have transferred to other universities, sophomore Laura Bernarndos (Western Kentucky) and juniors Lauren Alter (Arkansas) and Tsveta Dimitrova (UF). Junior Constandena Nicolaou is not on the team for unknown reasons.
The Cougars did manage to get two freshmen, Stephanie Belovukovic and Sophie Gerits, and three transfers: Phonexay Chitdara, Mimi Kendall-Woseley and Ndindi Ndunda.
A native of Sydney, Australia, Belovukovic is ranked among the top-500 international juniors while qualifying for multiple 15K tournaments and finished third at the Australia Junior Nationals and winning the Bruce Cup as a young junior.
Gerits, a native of Brussels, Belgium, ranked 1233 in doubles in the ITF.
Chitdara, a junior, transferred from McNeese State. A native of Crisnée, Belgium, Chitdara compiled a 17-3 record in dual play including a 9-1 mark in Southland Conference action during her second season on campus. As a freshman at McNeese, Chitdara went 7-9, playing primarily from the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. Chidara will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Kendall-Woseley, also a junior, joins Houston after spending her first two seasons at Toledo. A native of Boca Raton, Kendall-Woseley put together a 23-10 record in singles and a 14-16 record in doubles while being named on the All-MAC Second Team. She will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Ndunda, a sophomore from Burke, Virginia, joins Houston after spending her freshman year at Fresno State. With the Bulldogs, Ndunda was 6-9 in singles and 5-6 in doubles. Ndunda will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The lone returner on the team is redshirt freshman Elena Tairyan who sat out the 2018 season to maintain all four years of eligibility.
Scouting Furman:
Furman is led by head coach Adam Herendeen. Herendeen enters his fourth season as head coach.
The Paladins are coming off of a 20-9 record with a 5-0 record in the Southern Conference. They would win the Southern Conference Tournament Championship before falling in the first round of the national tournament to Duke.
The Paladins will be without Aryn Greene and Gabby Rodriguez as they graduated, but hey did ink four new freshmen: Julia Adams, Eva Borders, Mary Hunter Hyche and Taylor Melville.
The Paladins also sign a new assistant to join Herendeen: Catherine Dunagan. Dunagan was head coach for seven seasons at Presbyterian College where she led them to its first Big South Conference tournament victory. Dunagan has amassed 74 wins at the helm of the Blue Hose program and achieved the first three winning seasons in Division I history in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Key returners for the Paladins include juniors Katarina Kozarov and Katty Weymouth and sophomores Carol Elizabeth Kerman and Georgie Walker.
A native of Novi Sad, Serbia, Kozarov had an 18-5 dual singles record (#1 singles) and a 16-10 record in doubles, pairing mainly with either Greene or Rodriguez.
Kozarov was named the SoCon Women's Tennis Player of the Year and a member of the All-SoCon First Team.
Weymouth, a native of London, is coming off of a 17-12 dual singles record (#2 singles majorly) and 13-13 record in doubles, primarily with junior Danni Vines. Weymouth joined Kozarov on the All-SoCon First Team.
Kerman is coming off of a 14-7 dual singles record (#4 singles majorly) and a 16-2 record in doubes, pairly with either Rodriguez or Walker. Kerman was named a member of the All-SoCon Second Team in singles.
Walker is coming off of a 14-9 dual singles record (#5 singles marjorly) and a 5-2 record in doubles with Vines. Walker was named a member of the All-SoCon Second Team in doubles with Vines.
This will be the second time FGCU faces Furman. The first time was on March 13, 2010 where the Eagles fell 5-2.
Scouting Iowa:
This will be the first time both teams will play each other. Iowa is led by head coach Sasha Schmid. Schmid, a former Hawkeye herself, is entering her third season as head coach after taking over for Katie Dougherty.
The Hawkeyes are coming off of a 10-14 overall record with a 2-9 record in the Big Ten.
The Hawkeyes will be without Montana Crawford, Zoe Douglas, Adrienne Jensen, Anastasia Reimchen and Yufei Long.
Crawford, Douglas, Jensen and Reimchen have graduated while Long transferred to Boston.
Iowa did manage to ink four freshmen, Michelle Bacalla, Sophie Clark, Samantha Mannix and Cloe Ruett. They also managed to sign sophomore Ashleigh Jacobs.
Jacobs, a native of Alberta, Canada, spent her freshman year at Gonzaga where she went 1-0 in singles and 7-6 in doubles. She will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The only key player for Iowa is junior Elise van Heuvelen-Treadwell. Van Heuvelen-Treadwell is coming off of a 14-8 dual singles record (between #1 and #2 singles) and a 14-7 record in doubles.
Scouting Chattanooga:
Chattanooga is led by head coach Chad Camper, who enters his third season as head coach.
The Mocs are coming off of a 10-8 overall record with a 4-3 record in the SoCon where they were the runner-up in their conference tournament.
The Mocs will be without Samantha Casewell, Tamri Chalaganidze, Delaney Edwards and Sydney Patton. Casewell graduated while Chalaganidze, Edwards and Patton's statuses are unknown.
The Mocs did sign three new freshmen: Anna Didkovskaya, Polina Goloputova and Lily Holmes.
Key returners included sophomores Emma Van Hee and Bogdana Zaporozhets.
Van Hee is coming off of a 11-4 dual singles record (majorly #5 singles) and an 8-9 doubles record (#1 doubles). The Belgian was named a member of the SoCon All-Freshman Team.
A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Zaporozhets is coming off of a 8-7 record in singles (#6 singles) and a 7-10 record in doubles (#2 doubles).
Scouting Wisconsin:
Wisconsin is led by head coach Kelcy McKenna. McKenna enters her third season as head coach and is the eighth head coach for the program.
The Badgers are coming off of a 9-14 overall record with a 3-8 record in the Big Ten. The Badgers have not entered double digit winning seasons since 2014-15 season (10-12). In fact, the Badgers haven't had a season of more wins than losses since the 2010-11 season (14-12).
The team will lose Kelsey Grambeau as she graduated and picked up two newcomers: Ava Markham and Anna Makarova.
Markham, a native of Demarest, N.J., is a five-star Recruit that is ranked No. 43 nationally according to tennisrecruiting.net. Markham holds a 35-17 record on the USTA junior tennis circuit, including a mark of 28-12 against 4 and 5-star recruits.
Makarova joins the Badgers as a sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining after spending her freshman year at James Madison. At JMU, the Moscow native posted a 16-4 record in dual matches and 5-0 in conference play and a 13-4 record in doubles play. Makarova was named a member of the All-Colonial Athletic Association First Team.
Schedule Breakdown (Conference):
As for conference, aside from UNF, Lipscomb, Kennesaw, NJIT and Stetson, the Eagles will play North Alabama and Liberty for the first time in program history.
Scouting UNF:
UNF is led by head coach Mariana Cobra. Cobra enters her third season as head coach.
Although they finished second in conference, the Ospreys went 17-8 overall with a 5-1 record in the A-SUN. They would represent the A-SUN after defeating Stetson in the championship before falling to #19 FSU in the first round of the national tournament.
The Ospreys will be without the defending A-SUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Luise Intert, as she graduated and sophomore Eva Nyikos as she transferred to College of Charleston. They did manage to sign two newcomers to the team: Ana Paula Melilo and Constanza Gorches.
Melilo, a native of São Paulo, Brazil, joins from Anglo Americano. Melilo is ranked #341 in the ITF junior ranking and has won several national championships in both singles and doubles. Recently, she won a spot in the qualifying draw of Junior Roland Garros. She won two rounds to enter the main draw of the 2018 juniors competition.
Gorches, a native of Mexico City, joins UNF as a junior with two years of eligibility remaining after spending her freshman and sophomore year at Clemson. At Clemson, Gorches compiled an overall singles record of 25-26 and a doubles record of 18-21 where the Tigers defeated Washington's No. 2 doubles in the first round of the NCAA Championships on May 12 in Nashville, Tenn.
Soares, a native of Sobradinho, Brazil, is coming off of a 18-3 singles record and a 18-5 doubles record pairing with Medina. Soares was also named a member of the Big South All-Conference First Team in singles and doubles and a member of the VaSID University Division All-State Doubles first team with Medina. She was also a member of the Big South Presidential Honor Roll.
Scouting North Alabama:
North Alabama led by head coach Brice Bishop. Bishop enters his seventh season as head coach.
The Lions are entering their first year in the A-SUN and as a D1 team after being a member of the D2 Gulf South Conference. The Lions are coming off of a 12-7 overall record with a 8-4 record in the GSC where they fell in the GSC semifinals.
The team will be without Donna Haycock as she graduated. They will also be without sophomore Alisa Savina as she transferred to D2 Cameron University. The Lions did sign three freshman: Payton Andrews, local product Sydney Flesch and Megan Humphreys.
Key returners for the Lions include junior Nina Linke and seniors Nele Seitz and Claire DeGeorge.
Linke, a native of Stuttgart, Germany, is coming off of a 12-5 singles record and a 15-3 record in doubles (14-0 with Seitz). Linke was named a member of the GSC All-Conference Second Team.
Seitz, a native of Berlin, Germany, is coming off of an 11-8 singles record and a 16-3 record in doubles (14-0 with Linke).
DeGeorge, a native of Collierville, Tennessee is coming off of a 10-7 singles record and a 7-7 record in doubles.
They will then have a two-match road trip to Tallahassee to face Power 5 FSU (February 9 @2 P.M.) and Houston to face Houston (February 15 @2 P.M.) before returning home for seven straight home matches beginning with Furman (March 6 @10 A.M.), Power 5 Iowa (March 10 @11 A.M.), and Chattanooga (March 13 @10 A.M.) before opening conference against Liberty (March 17 @10 A.M.).The Eagles are 0-2 against the Seminoles. The Eagles fell 4-0 to the Seminoles on February 23, 2017.
Scouting Houston:
This will be the second time both teams meet. The first time was on February 16, 2013 where the Cougars won 4-3.
Houston is led by first year head coach Helena Besovic who is the 10th head coach for the program. Besovic last coached at McNeese State where she was the 2018 Southland Conference Coach of the Year and the Louisiana Coach of the Year and led McNeese to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance while sweeping the Southland regular season and conference tournament championships. Both conference titles were the first in McNeese history.
The Cougars are coming off of a 20-2 season with a 2-2 record in the AAC where they were quarterfinalist in the conference tournament.
All but one player has departed from the team as Ana Glumac, Sveva Mazzari and Alison Mills have graduated.
Four players have transferred to other universities, sophomore Laura Bernarndos (Western Kentucky) and juniors Lauren Alter (Arkansas) and Tsveta Dimitrova (UF). Junior Constandena Nicolaou is not on the team for unknown reasons.
The Cougars did manage to get two freshmen, Stephanie Belovukovic and Sophie Gerits, and three transfers: Phonexay Chitdara, Mimi Kendall-Woseley and Ndindi Ndunda.
A native of Sydney, Australia, Belovukovic is ranked among the top-500 international juniors while qualifying for multiple 15K tournaments and finished third at the Australia Junior Nationals and winning the Bruce Cup as a young junior.
Gerits, a native of Brussels, Belgium, ranked 1233 in doubles in the ITF.
Chitdara, a junior, transferred from McNeese State. A native of Crisnée, Belgium, Chitdara compiled a 17-3 record in dual play including a 9-1 mark in Southland Conference action during her second season on campus. As a freshman at McNeese, Chitdara went 7-9, playing primarily from the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. Chidara will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Kendall-Woseley, also a junior, joins Houston after spending her first two seasons at Toledo. A native of Boca Raton, Kendall-Woseley put together a 23-10 record in singles and a 14-16 record in doubles while being named on the All-MAC Second Team. She will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Ndunda, a sophomore from Burke, Virginia, joins Houston after spending her freshman year at Fresno State. With the Bulldogs, Ndunda was 6-9 in singles and 5-6 in doubles. Ndunda will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The lone returner on the team is redshirt freshman Elena Tairyan who sat out the 2018 season to maintain all four years of eligibility.
Scouting Furman:
Furman is led by head coach Adam Herendeen. Herendeen enters his fourth season as head coach.
The Paladins are coming off of a 20-9 record with a 5-0 record in the Southern Conference. They would win the Southern Conference Tournament Championship before falling in the first round of the national tournament to Duke.
The Paladins will be without Aryn Greene and Gabby Rodriguez as they graduated, but hey did ink four new freshmen: Julia Adams, Eva Borders, Mary Hunter Hyche and Taylor Melville.
The Paladins also sign a new assistant to join Herendeen: Catherine Dunagan. Dunagan was head coach for seven seasons at Presbyterian College where she led them to its first Big South Conference tournament victory. Dunagan has amassed 74 wins at the helm of the Blue Hose program and achieved the first three winning seasons in Division I history in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Key returners for the Paladins include juniors Katarina Kozarov and Katty Weymouth and sophomores Carol Elizabeth Kerman and Georgie Walker.
A native of Novi Sad, Serbia, Kozarov had an 18-5 dual singles record (#1 singles) and a 16-10 record in doubles, pairing mainly with either Greene or Rodriguez.
Kozarov was named the SoCon Women's Tennis Player of the Year and a member of the All-SoCon First Team.
Weymouth, a native of London, is coming off of a 17-12 dual singles record (#2 singles majorly) and 13-13 record in doubles, primarily with junior Danni Vines. Weymouth joined Kozarov on the All-SoCon First Team.
Kerman is coming off of a 14-7 dual singles record (#4 singles majorly) and a 16-2 record in doubes, pairly with either Rodriguez or Walker. Kerman was named a member of the All-SoCon Second Team in singles.
Walker is coming off of a 14-9 dual singles record (#5 singles marjorly) and a 5-2 record in doubles with Vines. Walker was named a member of the All-SoCon Second Team in doubles with Vines.
This will be the second time FGCU faces Furman. The first time was on March 13, 2010 where the Eagles fell 5-2.
Scouting Iowa:
This will be the first time both teams will play each other. Iowa is led by head coach Sasha Schmid. Schmid, a former Hawkeye herself, is entering her third season as head coach after taking over for Katie Dougherty.
The Hawkeyes are coming off of a 10-14 overall record with a 2-9 record in the Big Ten.
The Hawkeyes will be without Montana Crawford, Zoe Douglas, Adrienne Jensen, Anastasia Reimchen and Yufei Long.
Crawford, Douglas, Jensen and Reimchen have graduated while Long transferred to Boston.
Iowa did manage to ink four freshmen, Michelle Bacalla, Sophie Clark, Samantha Mannix and Cloe Ruett. They also managed to sign sophomore Ashleigh Jacobs.
Jacobs, a native of Alberta, Canada, spent her freshman year at Gonzaga where she went 1-0 in singles and 7-6 in doubles. She will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The only key player for Iowa is junior Elise van Heuvelen-Treadwell. Van Heuvelen-Treadwell is coming off of a 14-8 dual singles record (between #1 and #2 singles) and a 14-7 record in doubles.
Scouting Chattanooga:
Chattanooga is led by head coach Chad Camper, who enters his third season as head coach.
The Mocs are coming off of a 10-8 overall record with a 4-3 record in the SoCon where they were the runner-up in their conference tournament.
The Mocs will be without Samantha Casewell, Tamri Chalaganidze, Delaney Edwards and Sydney Patton. Casewell graduated while Chalaganidze, Edwards and Patton's statuses are unknown.
The Mocs did sign three new freshmen: Anna Didkovskaya, Polina Goloputova and Lily Holmes.
Key returners included sophomores Emma Van Hee and Bogdana Zaporozhets.
Van Hee is coming off of a 11-4 dual singles record (majorly #5 singles) and an 8-9 doubles record (#1 doubles). The Belgian was named a member of the SoCon All-Freshman Team.
A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Zaporozhets is coming off of a 8-7 record in singles (#6 singles) and a 7-10 record in doubles (#2 doubles).
Scouting Wisconsin:
Wisconsin is led by head coach Kelcy McKenna. McKenna enters her third season as head coach and is the eighth head coach for the program.
The Badgers are coming off of a 9-14 overall record with a 3-8 record in the Big Ten. The Badgers have not entered double digit winning seasons since 2014-15 season (10-12). In fact, the Badgers haven't had a season of more wins than losses since the 2010-11 season (14-12).
The team will lose Kelsey Grambeau as she graduated and picked up two newcomers: Ava Markham and Anna Makarova.
Markham, a native of Demarest, N.J., is a five-star Recruit that is ranked No. 43 nationally according to tennisrecruiting.net. Markham holds a 35-17 record on the USTA junior tennis circuit, including a mark of 28-12 against 4 and 5-star recruits.
Makarova joins the Badgers as a sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining after spending her freshman year at James Madison. At JMU, the Moscow native posted a 16-4 record in dual matches and 5-0 in conference play and a 13-4 record in doubles play. Makarova was named a member of the All-Colonial Athletic Association First Team.
Schedule Breakdown (Conference):
As for conference, aside from UNF, Lipscomb, Kennesaw, NJIT and Stetson, the Eagles will play North Alabama and Liberty for the first time in program history.
Scouting UNF:
UNF is led by head coach Mariana Cobra. Cobra enters her third season as head coach.
Although they finished second in conference, the Ospreys went 17-8 overall with a 5-1 record in the A-SUN. They would represent the A-SUN after defeating Stetson in the championship before falling to #19 FSU in the first round of the national tournament.
The Ospreys will be without the defending A-SUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Luise Intert, as she graduated and sophomore Eva Nyikos as she transferred to College of Charleston. They did manage to sign two newcomers to the team: Ana Paula Melilo and Constanza Gorches.
Melilo, a native of São Paulo, Brazil, joins from Anglo Americano. Melilo is ranked #341 in the ITF junior ranking and has won several national championships in both singles and doubles. Recently, she won a spot in the qualifying draw of Junior Roland Garros. She won two rounds to enter the main draw of the 2018 juniors competition.
Key returners for the Ospreys include junior Lucia Montaño, senior Rafaela Gomez and sophomore Florencia Rossi.
Montaño is coming off of a 15-7 dual singles record and a 9-2 in doubles. Montaño was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team.
Gomez is coming off of a 9-9 dual singles record and a 16-5 record in doubles. She was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team for the second straight year.
Rossi is coming off of a 15-4 dual singles record and a 12-10 record in doubles. The Italian was named a member of the A-SUN championship team.
The Eagles are 2-13 overall against the Ospreys. FGCU's two wins were back-to-back from last season and the 2016-17 season.
Scouting Lipscomb:
Lipscomb is led by head coach Jamie Aid. Aid enters her fourth season as head coach.
The Lady Bison are coming off of a 11-12 overall record with a 4-2 record in conference where they would fall in the semifinals to eventual winner UNF.
All of their players have returned for the season. They did manage to gain three new freshmen: Maddox Bandy, Eleanor Chapman, and Liza Diachenko.
Key returners for the Lady Bison include sophomore Kateryna Popova, junior Denise Buberl and senior Viktoriya Dzyuba.
A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Popova is coming off of a 17-2 record in singles and a 10-8 record in doubles. The Ukrainian was named A-SUN Freshman of the Year and a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and All-Freshman Team in singles and a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Doubles Team as the #2 doubles team.
Buberl, a native of Vienna, Austria, comes off of a 11-9 singles record and a 10-3 record in doubles.
Dzyuba, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, is coming off of a 11-7 singles record and a 10-3 record in doubles. Dzyuba was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
The Eagles hold a impressive 12-0 record against the Lady Bison. Last time both teams met, the Eagles barely won 4-3 thanks to Falceto Font who secured the final match point.
Scouting Kennesaw:
Kennesaw is led by first year director of tennis Matt Emery. Emery was hired by Kennesaw on July 16, 2018 after six seasons as an assistant coach for Kentucky while leading them to five NCAA Tournaments, including back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2013 and 2014.
Emery is also joined by first year assistant coaches Kirsten Lewis and Simon Pritchard.
Lewis, who will serve as assistant coach for the men's and women's tennis teams, was an assistant coach for Eastern Kentucky where she helped lead the Colonels to its first OVC title since 2013 and fourth NCAA appearance in program history, posting a 16-8 record, claiming the regular season title (including a 9-0 record in OVC play) and placing four women on All-OVC teams for the first time since 2012. In fact, Lewis played for Emery at Kentucky.
A Kennesaw alum, Pritchard was a four-year team captain and currently holds the program record for wins in singles and doubles. He was named A-SUN Male Conference Student Athlete of the Year in 2016 and was a two-time A-SUN Scholar Athlete of the Year. Pritchard graduated from KSU with his degree in Economics in the spring of 2017.
The Owls are coming off of a 3-15 overall record with a 2-4 record in the A-SUN where they fell to Stetson in the quarterfinals.
The Owls will be without Kennedy Craig, Laura Hopton and Alexandra Mercado as they graduated. Junior Jada Tijani has also departed from the team and transferred to Marist College
They did sign four new freshmen: Juliana Castellanos, Lara Mehlsam, Kendall Nash and Emory Ann Phillips.
Key returners for the Owls include senior Jessica Cantrell. Cantrell is coming off of a 7-10 record in singles and a 3-13 record in doubles.
The Eagles hold a 10-2 overall record against the Owls. Last time both teams met was at Kennesaw where the Eagles shutout the Owls 7-0.
Scouting NJIT:
NJIT is led by head coach first year head coach Zaki Abdelrahman. Abdelrahman was assistant coach for Ira Miller, who resigned.
The Highlanders are coming off of a 8-11 overall record with a 1-5 record in the A-SUN where they fell to Lipscomb in the A-SUN quarterfinals.
The Team will be without Natacha Minc, Alba Rosas Garcia and Ines Vujkovac as they graduated and added two new freshmen: Joleta Budiman and Adara Omar.
Key returners for the Highlanders include senior Amanda Helminsky and sophomore Advaita Saravanan.
Helminsky is coming off of a 11-4 in singles and a 9-8 record in double paring mainly with Saravanan (9-5 record). As a result, the Brazilian was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team.
Saravann is coming off of an 11-7 record in singles and a 10-8 record in doubles.
Scouting Stetson:
Stetson is led by head coach Travis Sandlant, who enters his third year as head coach.
The Lady Hatters are coming off of a 13-9 overall record with a 3-3 record in the A-SUN. They were named A-SUN runner after falling to UNF in the championship round.
The Lady Hatters had a total of nine freshman on the team, but will now be without Arijana Korac as she graduated. They will also be without sophomores Maxine Bateman, Ciarra Gilmore and Lillia Hite.
Bateman and Hite have departed from team for unknown reason while Gilmore transferred to DII Missouri Western State.
The Lady Hatters did manage to sign four newcomers: freshmen Ellie Dolde, Anna Dovgopolyi and Olivia Talbert and sophomore Charlotte Solli.
Solli is a transfer from NAIA LSU-Alexandria. The native of Oslo, Norway was 3-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles. Solli joins Stetson with three years of eligibility remaining.
Key returners for the Lady hatters include sophomore Brooke Milner and junior Lucie Renault.
Milner, a product of Adelaide, Australia, is coming off of a 13-4 record in singles and a 9-4 record in doubles.
Renault, a native of Laval, France, is coming off of a 14-5 singles dual record and a 9-4 doubles record.
Scouting Liberty:
Liberty is led by head coach Jeff Maren. Maren enters his seventh season as head coach while holding a 90-56 career record.
The Lady Flames are coming off of a 18-9 overall record with a 7-1 record in the Big South. The Lady Flames enter their first season as a member of the A-SUN after serving as a member of the Big South for 27 years (1991-2018).
Liberty will be without Evangeline Crist, Lara Soares, Audrey Brown, Eugenia Camacho, Aleksandra Panchenko and Polina Miroshnichenko.
Crist and Soares have graduated while Brown, Camacho, Panchenko and Miroshnichenko left for unknown reasons.
The Lady Flames did manage to sign Alexandra Almborg and Kalani Soli. Almborg, the lone freshman from Staffanstorp, Sweden, was the only newcomer to join the team. Almborg has achieved as high as a 10.12 UTR rating (2017) and has been one of the top-ranked junior players in Sweden since age 13, winning many Swedish national tournaments in the process. Almborg has been as high as No. 2 in the Swedish national rankings while winning three gold medals at the Swedish Team National Championships. She also was a quarterfinalist at the ITF Nottingham tournament and the ITF Copenhagen tournament.
Soli joins Liberty as a junior with two years remaining after spending her freshman and sophomore years at NJCAA Tyler College. There, Soli claimed a regional championship and also reached the final of the fall national championships as a sophomore while going unbeaten in No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles as a freshman with the Indians. Soli also won the national championship at both flights as a freshman and clinched a team national championship in her doubles win
Key returners for the Lady Flames are seniors Ashley Bongart, Anna Dollar, Marina Medina and Lara Soares.
Bongart is coming off of a 14-9 singles record and a 5-1 record in doubles. The Tennessee transfer was named a member of the Big South All-Conference First Team and a ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Dollar is coming off of a 13-6 singles record and a 11-7 record in doubles. Dollar was named a member of the Big South All-Conference Second Team and on the Big South Presidential Honor Roll.
An alum of State College of Florida, Medina is coming off of a 14-10 singles record and an 18-5 doubles record. The Cumana, Venezuela native was named a member of the Big South All-Conference First Team in singles and doubles and a member of the VaSID University Division All-State Doubles first team.
Gomez is coming off of a 9-9 dual singles record and a 16-5 record in doubles. She was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team for the second straight year.
Rossi is coming off of a 15-4 dual singles record and a 12-10 record in doubles. The Italian was named a member of the A-SUN championship team.
The Eagles are 2-13 overall against the Ospreys. FGCU's two wins were back-to-back from last season and the 2016-17 season.
Scouting Lipscomb:
Lipscomb is led by head coach Jamie Aid. Aid enters her fourth season as head coach.
The Lady Bison are coming off of a 11-12 overall record with a 4-2 record in conference where they would fall in the semifinals to eventual winner UNF.
All of their players have returned for the season. They did manage to gain three new freshmen: Maddox Bandy, Eleanor Chapman, and Liza Diachenko.
Key returners for the Lady Bison include sophomore Kateryna Popova, junior Denise Buberl and senior Viktoriya Dzyuba.
A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Popova is coming off of a 17-2 record in singles and a 10-8 record in doubles. The Ukrainian was named A-SUN Freshman of the Year and a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and All-Freshman Team in singles and a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Doubles Team as the #2 doubles team.
Buberl, a native of Vienna, Austria, comes off of a 11-9 singles record and a 10-3 record in doubles.
Dzyuba, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, is coming off of a 11-7 singles record and a 10-3 record in doubles. Dzyuba was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference First Team and the A-SUN All-Academic Team.
The Eagles hold a impressive 12-0 record against the Lady Bison. Last time both teams met, the Eagles barely won 4-3 thanks to Falceto Font who secured the final match point.
Scouting Kennesaw:
Kennesaw is led by first year director of tennis Matt Emery. Emery was hired by Kennesaw on July 16, 2018 after six seasons as an assistant coach for Kentucky while leading them to five NCAA Tournaments, including back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2013 and 2014.
Emery is also joined by first year assistant coaches Kirsten Lewis and Simon Pritchard.
Lewis, who will serve as assistant coach for the men's and women's tennis teams, was an assistant coach for Eastern Kentucky where she helped lead the Colonels to its first OVC title since 2013 and fourth NCAA appearance in program history, posting a 16-8 record, claiming the regular season title (including a 9-0 record in OVC play) and placing four women on All-OVC teams for the first time since 2012. In fact, Lewis played for Emery at Kentucky.
A Kennesaw alum, Pritchard was a four-year team captain and currently holds the program record for wins in singles and doubles. He was named A-SUN Male Conference Student Athlete of the Year in 2016 and was a two-time A-SUN Scholar Athlete of the Year. Pritchard graduated from KSU with his degree in Economics in the spring of 2017.
The Owls are coming off of a 3-15 overall record with a 2-4 record in the A-SUN where they fell to Stetson in the quarterfinals.
The Owls will be without Kennedy Craig, Laura Hopton and Alexandra Mercado as they graduated. Junior Jada Tijani has also departed from the team and transferred to Marist College
They did sign four new freshmen: Juliana Castellanos, Lara Mehlsam, Kendall Nash and Emory Ann Phillips.
Key returners for the Owls include senior Jessica Cantrell. Cantrell is coming off of a 7-10 record in singles and a 3-13 record in doubles.
The Eagles hold a 10-2 overall record against the Owls. Last time both teams met was at Kennesaw where the Eagles shutout the Owls 7-0.
Scouting NJIT:
NJIT is led by head coach first year head coach Zaki Abdelrahman. Abdelrahman was assistant coach for Ira Miller, who resigned.
The Highlanders are coming off of a 8-11 overall record with a 1-5 record in the A-SUN where they fell to Lipscomb in the A-SUN quarterfinals.
The Team will be without Natacha Minc, Alba Rosas Garcia and Ines Vujkovac as they graduated and added two new freshmen: Joleta Budiman and Adara Omar.
Key returners for the Highlanders include senior Amanda Helminsky and sophomore Advaita Saravanan.
Helminsky is coming off of a 11-4 in singles and a 9-8 record in double paring mainly with Saravanan (9-5 record). As a result, the Brazilian was named a member of the A-SUN All-Conference Second Team.
Saravann is coming off of an 11-7 record in singles and a 10-8 record in doubles.
Scouting Stetson:
Stetson is led by head coach Travis Sandlant, who enters his third year as head coach.
The Lady Hatters are coming off of a 13-9 overall record with a 3-3 record in the A-SUN. They were named A-SUN runner after falling to UNF in the championship round.
The Lady Hatters had a total of nine freshman on the team, but will now be without Arijana Korac as she graduated. They will also be without sophomores Maxine Bateman, Ciarra Gilmore and Lillia Hite.
Bateman and Hite have departed from team for unknown reason while Gilmore transferred to DII Missouri Western State.
The Lady Hatters did manage to sign four newcomers: freshmen Ellie Dolde, Anna Dovgopolyi and Olivia Talbert and sophomore Charlotte Solli.
Solli is a transfer from NAIA LSU-Alexandria. The native of Oslo, Norway was 3-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles. Solli joins Stetson with three years of eligibility remaining.
Key returners for the Lady hatters include sophomore Brooke Milner and junior Lucie Renault.
Milner, a product of Adelaide, Australia, is coming off of a 13-4 record in singles and a 9-4 record in doubles.
Renault, a native of Laval, France, is coming off of a 14-5 singles dual record and a 9-4 doubles record.
Scouting Liberty:
Liberty is led by head coach Jeff Maren. Maren enters his seventh season as head coach while holding a 90-56 career record.
The Lady Flames are coming off of a 18-9 overall record with a 7-1 record in the Big South. The Lady Flames enter their first season as a member of the A-SUN after serving as a member of the Big South for 27 years (1991-2018).
Liberty will be without Evangeline Crist, Lara Soares, Audrey Brown, Eugenia Camacho, Aleksandra Panchenko and Polina Miroshnichenko.
Crist and Soares have graduated while Brown, Camacho, Panchenko and Miroshnichenko left for unknown reasons.
The Lady Flames did manage to sign Alexandra Almborg and Kalani Soli. Almborg, the lone freshman from Staffanstorp, Sweden, was the only newcomer to join the team. Almborg has achieved as high as a 10.12 UTR rating (2017) and has been one of the top-ranked junior players in Sweden since age 13, winning many Swedish national tournaments in the process. Almborg has been as high as No. 2 in the Swedish national rankings while winning three gold medals at the Swedish Team National Championships. She also was a quarterfinalist at the ITF Nottingham tournament and the ITF Copenhagen tournament.
Soli joins Liberty as a junior with two years remaining after spending her freshman and sophomore years at NJCAA Tyler College. There, Soli claimed a regional championship and also reached the final of the fall national championships as a sophomore while going unbeaten in No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles as a freshman with the Indians. Soli also won the national championship at both flights as a freshman and clinched a team national championship in her doubles win
Key returners for the Lady Flames are seniors Ashley Bongart, Anna Dollar, Marina Medina and Lara Soares.
Bongart is coming off of a 14-9 singles record and a 5-1 record in doubles. The Tennessee transfer was named a member of the Big South All-Conference First Team and a ITA Scholar-Athlete.
Dollar is coming off of a 13-6 singles record and a 11-7 record in doubles. Dollar was named a member of the Big South All-Conference Second Team and on the Big South Presidential Honor Roll.
An alum of State College of Florida, Medina is coming off of a 14-10 singles record and an 18-5 doubles record. The Cumana, Venezuela native was named a member of the Big South All-Conference First Team in singles and doubles and a member of the VaSID University Division All-State Doubles first team.
Soares, a native of Sobradinho, Brazil, is coming off of a 18-3 singles record and a 18-5 doubles record pairing with Medina. Soares was also named a member of the Big South All-Conference First Team in singles and doubles and a member of the VaSID University Division All-State Doubles first team with Medina. She was also a member of the Big South Presidential Honor Roll.
Scouting North Alabama:
North Alabama led by head coach Brice Bishop. Bishop enters his seventh season as head coach.
The Lions are entering their first year in the A-SUN and as a D1 team after being a member of the D2 Gulf South Conference. The Lions are coming off of a 12-7 overall record with a 8-4 record in the GSC where they fell in the GSC semifinals.
The team will be without Donna Haycock as she graduated. They will also be without sophomore Alisa Savina as she transferred to D2 Cameron University. The Lions did sign three freshman: Payton Andrews, local product Sydney Flesch and Megan Humphreys.
Key returners for the Lions include junior Nina Linke and seniors Nele Seitz and Claire DeGeorge.
Linke, a native of Stuttgart, Germany, is coming off of a 12-5 singles record and a 15-3 record in doubles (14-0 with Seitz). Linke was named a member of the GSC All-Conference Second Team.
Seitz, a native of Berlin, Germany, is coming off of an 11-8 singles record and a 16-3 record in doubles (14-0 with Linke).
DeGeorge, a native of Collierville, Tennessee is coming off of a 10-7 singles record and a 7-7 record in doubles.
The Eagles will begin their first five matches at home as they USF (January 13 @2 P.M.), Georgia State (January 18 @10 A.M.), Power 5 Miami (January 20 @3 P.M.), MTSU (February 1 @11 A.M. and FAU (February 2 @1 P.M.).
After a break from Conference, the Eagles will play Power 5 Wisconsin (March 20 @5 P.M.) for their final non-conference match, before resuming conference play with two more home matches against NJIT (March 23 @5 P.M.) and UNF (March 28 @5 P.M.) before their three-match road to face Stetson (March 30 @10 A.M.), North Alabama (April 4 @10 A.M.) and Lipscomb (April 6 @ noon). They will then return for their final home match against Kennesaw where it will be senior day for Ascúa, Falceto and Villar.
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