Ladyjacks Open Up Season With Pair Of Home Matches
1/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - After a successful fall season, the Ladyjack tennis team is set to kick off the spring portion of the schedule this weekend with a pair of home matches on Friday and Saturday against Louisiana Tech and Houston.
The Ladyjacks are coming off a 2008 season that saw them earn a berth in the SLC Tournament that was held at the newly christened Gerald and Candace Schlief Tennis Complex.
SFA only lost one player off of last year's squad, but looks to have a strong 1-2 punch at the top in junior Roxana Enica and freshman Alina Shazkho. Both Enica and Shazkho had success in the fall with Shazkho taking the second singles flight at the SFA Fall Invitational. Enica was the team's top singles player in 2008, picking up 10 individual wins in her sophomore season.
Head coach Bret Arrant also teamed that pair up doubles, a combination that could challenge to be one of the better doubles teams in the SLC this year.
Aside from Enica and Shazkho, the Ladyjacks will also welcome back a number of returners including Gabriela Gadeva, Sanjana Kapur, Mary Harrison, Tatiana Smolnikova, Christelle Kaempfer and Mary Harrison.
Each of them made significant contributions to last year's team and will be expected make strides a year later. Gadeva, Kapur and Smolnikova combined for 22 singles wins last season, helping lead SFA to eight wins in last year's spring season.
The Ladyjacks are scheduled to kick off against Louisiana Tech on Friday at 4:00 p.m., with a 2:00 p.m. start time slated for Saturday's match against Houston.
Both matches will take place at the Schlief Tennis Complex located at the corner of Wilson and Starr Streets in Nacogdoches.
-SFA-
