Women’s Tennis Eager to Get Back to Nationals
Last season the Vikings won their first conference championship for the first time in fourteen years. Hudson Valley went all the way as the runners up in regionals and played in the national tournament.
The Vikings have seven total players on the team this year with only three returning players as they look to get ready for the season.
“We have a total of seven on the team and they have been anxious to have good hard practices and have been doing well to get prepared for the season,” said head coach Denise Potenza.
The Vikings are without Janel Weaver, who was one of the team captains last year. Captains Emily Qua and Jenna Brophy are still with the team.
Coach Potenza has to change up the strategy a little bit due to the big number of new players joining the team.
“Some of our players only played singles last year and they will be playing some doubles this year, [and] some of our double players will be playing single matches that they didn’t play last season,” said Potenza.
This will be a big season for the returning players as they have the experience of playing in the Arthur Ashe Stadium at nationals last season.
“They’re really anxious to get playing this season, and with the experience of playing last year, I think they will be even better this year in terms of being more relaxed in match play. They’re very supportive of the new players so it’s a good mix of players,” said Potenza.
Coach Potenza wants the team to make it back to where they were last year and knows what she needs to do in order to get the team back to that point.
“The level of play is very consistent with the players. It’s hard to get a strong lineup this early in the season. We’ve been developing some good doubles teams so we can work on that play and some of the players will know what to expect, so we are aiming at regionals and hopefully make it back to nationals,” said Potenza.
The team’s first home match will be on Sept. 16 against Adirondack at 4 p.m.