2008 Women's Tennis Season Outlook

Scots Still Youthful, But Now Ready to Improve

Erin Bauer is expected to move from No. 5 to No. 3 singles.

With the core of its roster being sophomores, The College of Wooster women’s tennis team is still very young, however, fourth-year head coach Lori Shulman believes her Fighting Scots can translate that one season of experience into significant improvement this spring. Wooster slipped into eighth-place in the highly-competitive North Coast Athletic Conference last year.

In addition to being youthful again, the Scots face the challenge of replacing their top player from a season ago in Joanna Tysko. Actually, Tysko headed their lineup her entire career, as the four-time all-NCAC honoree won nearly 40 matches at No. 1 singles (39-32). Shulman is confident that Wooster will remain competitive in that spot, though, with sophomore Elissa Lauber taking over for Tysko. Lauber, a fundamentally-sound, all-court player, logged valuable court time at the No. 2 position throughout last season.

“It is a tough task to play in the No. 1 spot at this level, especially in a highly-competitive conference, like the NCAC, but I have high expectations for Elissa this year and in the future,” Shulman explained. “She continues to get better everyday both physically and mentally.”

Brenna Hart, another sophomore, also played in the top half of the singles lineup last spring (No. 3), and like Lauber, she will move one spot up, which should suit her hard-hitting baseline game. A third sophomore, Erin Bauer, is penciled in as this season’s third singles player as she looks to build off of four victories at No. 5.

The bottom half of the lineup will feature some new names. Freshman Suzanne Hamby will start out at No. 4, followed by sophomore Eden Kovacik, who only played doubles last season, and Meredith Gavin, a junior who has only seen limited action for the program.

“In singles … we need to improve upon our mental toughness, especially at the top of our lineup, where they have the strokes to compete, but tend to lack the mental edge they need to win,” summed up Shulman. “Mental toughness will come with time and experience.”

The sophomores will also headline the doubles teams. Lauber and Hart are expected to join forces at No. 1, while Bauer and Kovacik could be the regular duo at No. 2 after playing once together as freshmen. Gavin and Hamby will begin at No. 3, but Shulman warned partners could change several times, especially early in the year.

“I expect (us) to be much improved on the doubles court as we do spend a great deal of time working on doubles strategy and movement,” she added.