MACOMB, Ill. - The Leatherneck women's tennis team will travel to Kansas City for two days of matches starting Thursday (Mar. 14) and lasting until Friday (Mar. 15).
The Purple and Gold will challenge the likes of Fort Wayne and Kansas City on Thursday and Nebraska-Omaha and South Dakota State on Friday.
After some time off the Leathernecks have had the opportunity to get some quality practice time, in preparation of this week.
"Our practices have centered on playing to the middle of the court, and thus reducing errors," said third-year head coach Chris Kane. "Sometimes our players get caught up with the fast pace of their opponent's shots and try to duplicate that, which leads too many unforced errors. We're going to try to play much steadier tennis this week and not worry about power so much."
Coach Kane and the team are looking forward to their upcoming four conference matches in two days.
"Our players have had their two best practices of the year in the last two days," said Kane. "Although we'll certainly have a tough challenge, we are getting better."
This will mark the first matches of the season for the team in Summit League conference play.
LAST TIME OUT: The Leathernecks dropped a duel match to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 1st and Northern Iowa on March 2nd by scores of 7-0 and 5-2, respectively. Western got a singles vicory from Kristen Havelka when she defeated Trish Hinke of Northern Iowa by a 6-2, 6-3 decision.
SCOUTING THE MASTODONS: Fort Wayne comes into the week with an overall record of 11-7. They are coming off of two separate 7-0 victories defeating both Green Bay and Bradley in Peoria last weekend. The Mastodons are led in singles play by Miloslava Shustova who has a 16-2 record. In doubles, they are led by the pairing of Anita Henestrosa and Caterina Kiefer with an overall mark of 14-4.
SCOUTING THE 'ROOS: Kansas City enters conference play this week with an overall record of 3-10 this season. The 'Roos lost a duel match to Northern Illinois on Tuesday, (Mar. 12) by a score of 6-1. They are led in singles play by Dimitra Stavrianakou who has a record of 10-8. The leading doubles record belongs to Amelie Amsellem and Suzan Lisenby who have recorded a 4-4 mark.
SCOUTING THE MAVS: Nebraska-Omaha will come in with a 2-4 overall mark this season. They are coming off a trio of defeats to Northern Illinois, Central Arkansas and Drake by scores of 7-0. The Mavericks have four players tied with two wins each in singles play. The doubles pairing of Tiffany Hottman and Molly Matricardi account for half of the Mavs doubles wins with three.
SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS: South Dakota State last played March 7th in a 6-1 win against Florida A&M. SDSU has a 8-7 overall mark so far this season. Ffion Davies leads the Jackrabbits in singles with an impressive record of 12-3. Davies is also part of the leading doubles pairing with Jenny Blackburne that has recorded 10 doubles victories to this point.
Complete results will be made available at the conclusion of each day.
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