University of Tennessee Athletics
Women's Tennis Central: Opening Weekend
January 20, 2017 | Women's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee women's tennis team opens its spring season at home this weekend, hosting doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Goodfriend Tennis Center.
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Air Force Middle Tennessee Wake Forest Chattanooga
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Air Force (10 a.m.) and Middle Tennessee (3 p.m.) will be the Vols' matchups on the first day of play. Wake Forest (10 a.m.) and Chattanooga (5:30 p.m.) make up the slate for Sunday's schedule.
"We have two tough days of matches," head coach Alison Ojeda said. "We are asking these girls to play four matches in two days. That is not something that we have done. From the standpoint of this weekend, our girls need to go in extremely focused. Every match we play right now is like the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter who we are competing against. Every match, we have to have the mindset of `This is the new Tennessee. This is the new culture. This is us.' That is what we are trying to do."
Wake Forest competed at the Tennessee Fall Invite earlier in the season. UT took four of the six matches in doubles against the Demon Deacons but only won two of six in singles. The Vols will be healthier this weekend, though, and one individual will look to continue to impress the coaches following her return from injury last season.
"The whole team has stepped up a ton and has accepted a pretty big challenge that Ty and I gave them last week," Ojeda said. "Gabby Schuck did an unbelievable job at responding to the training room side of things over the course of the last six to eight months. She came out last weekend and surprised us. Before the weekend, I would have had no clue of telling you what she would be capable of doing because that was the first time I have ever seen her play a full match. You will see that again this weekend from her. Overall, we should see a massive jump in our ability to play tennis from the whole team."
That's not the only thing that will be different this time around, as Ojeda prepares for her first matches as the head coach of the Volunteers.
"It feels amazing and is absolutely incredible," Ojeda said about the opportunity to take over the program. "As a student athlete here, I had these little superstitions and routines that I would go through before matches. When I walked in today, and without even realizing it, I have been going through those routines. It's exciting, though. The girls have worked hard. One thing we used to talk about back when I played was being proud to be a Tennessee Vol and showing people that. This team is eating that mentality up right now. Now, we have to show our fans why they should come back and watch us compete."
Matches begin at 10 a.m. both days and admission is free for all matches. Parking is available in Lot C-11, which is located off Volunteer Boulevard. For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee women's tennis program, follow @Vol_WTennis on Twitter.
Here are a few notes heading into opening weekend:
Ojeda Takes Over
- Alison Ojeda enters her first season as the head coach of the Vols.
- Ojeda was hired to the position on Nov. 21, 2016, following Mike Patrick's resignation.
- Ojeda takes over for a team that returns six players and welcomes two newcomers.
- Ojeda is joined by assistant coach Ty Schaub and volunteer assistant Kata Szekely.
Lindl in the Rankings
- When the updated ITA rankings came out on Jan. 4, senior Brittany Lindl came in at No. 64 in the country in singles.
- The ranking marked the first time in her career that she has been in the rankings.
- She currently has two ranked wins on the season, including a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7) win over Arizona State's 63rd-ranked Kassidy Jump this past weekend at the Michigan Invitational.
Recapping the Fall
- Senior Eve Repic and sophomore Sadie Hammond enjoyed a strong performance in doubles during the fall, going 5-3 with two ranked wins. They defeated Wake Forest's 22nd-ranked duo of Kimmy Guerin and Anna Ulyashchenko at the Furman Fall Classic.
- The two followed that event with an invite to the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California. Hammond and Repic picked up their second ranked win in the first round of qualifying, beating No. 59 Mickey Hsu and Kristen Poei of Cal State Northridge, 8-3.
- The duo represented Tennessee at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships, where they advanced all the way to the quarterfinals before falling to a team from Vanderbilt.
- At the Tennessee Fall Invite, Repic played with fellow senior Brittany Lindl and Hammond paired up with redshirt freshman Gabby Schuck. Repic and Lindl claimed the doubles title to the event after going 4-1 on the weekend.
- Hammond and Schuck won two matches together, including defeating the No. 5 team in the country in Ohio State's Miho Kowase and Anna Sanford, 6-4. They are the first Volunteer duo to defeat a top-five team since All-Americans Kata Szekely and Brynn Boren won back-to-back matches against the second-ranked and fifth-ranked teams in the country at the ITA All-American Championships on Oct. 4-5, 2012.
- Repic finished with a team-high nine wins in doubles during the fall. During an 11-game stretch from Sept. 23-Oct. 29, she compiled a 9-2 record and also had a four-match winning streak.
- In singles, freshman Ariadna Riley boasted the best record on the team, going 7-5 in the fall with a three-match winning streak between the IU Regional and Tennessee Fall Invite.
