Women’s Tennis Opens Spring Season with Three Matches in Two Days

Friday, January 19

Boiling Springs, NC - GWU Tennis Courts

2:00 PM

College of Charleston

Gardner-Webb

Photo by: CofCSports.com

Women’s Tennis Opens Spring Season with Three Matches in Two Days

1/18/2018 5:27:00 PM | Women's Tennis

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's tennis team begins its Spring season with three matches in two days this weekend, when it heads to North Carolina to take on Gardner-Webb, NC A&T and Wake Forest.

The Cougars will be in Boiling Springs to challenge the Bulldogs at 2 p.m. on Friday. They will then head to Greensboro to duke it out with the Aggies at 10 a.m. on Saturday before wrapping things up in Winston-Salem against the Demon Deacons at 2:30 p.m. later that day.

The Cougars come off an 18-9 campaign in 2016-17, marking the 25^th winning season for Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo at the helm of the CofC women's program. The College entered the CAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed, but were stopped in the quarterfinals in a 4-3 defeat at the hands of UNCW. Junior Christi Woodson secured victory at the No. 3 spot in that match, while Turner Yates cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win in flight six.

The program graduated its No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, and will be searching for answers at the top of the rotation with the departure of Liza Fieldsend and Mara Argyriou. Fieldsend was the CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player following her junior year, while Argyriou recorded over 100 victories between singles and doubles play in her four years at the College.

CofC finds itself in a good position to face the challenge, as seven of the ten members of the squad are upper-classmen. That includes senior Helena Nyikos, who's been the most improved player over the past two seasons for Coach Anastopoulo, and seems poised to contend for the Cougars in the higher flights.

Beyond Nyikos, Woodson was battle-tested at the second and third singles flights for the Cougars last year, while Yates, Rachel McNeely and Anastasia Palaska have all seen substantial play in the middle and lower flights. Junior transfer Laura Arciniegas from North Texas also made waves for the Cougars in the Fall, securing a flight three doubles championship at the CofC Classic alongside Yates.

The Cougars will play Gardner-Webb for the first time on record following a 12-6 season by the Bulldogs last year, although the team was jettisoned 4-1 at the hands of UNC Asheville in the opening round of the Big South Tournament. Sarah Rieckmann and Daniela Naupari are the team's most accomplished returners, as the two went a combined 23-9 in middle-flight singles play. The Bulldogs are led by 10^th-year head coach Jim Corn.

North Carolina A&T played to a 7-14 overall record last year, succumbing to eventual MEAC champions SC State in the second round of the tournament. Kanishka Chawla was the most successful Aggie last season with a single record of 8-10 in lower-flight action. William Cutchfield is in his first season as head coach of the program.

Wake Forest went 18-11 overall and 7-7 against a brutally competitive ACC last season, and graduated their No. 1 singles ace Kimmy Guerin as well. However, the Deacons are not without dangerous weapons, as both Eliza Omirou and Emma Davis enter the season ranked No. 70 and No. 72 respectively in singles play. Omirou is also a potent doubles player, and is ranked No. 42 with teammate Anna Ulyaschchenko. Wake Forest is led by seventh-year head coach Jeff Wyshner.