Cougars Open Up Spring Season With Four Road Matches

Friday, January 17

Boiling Springs, NC

2:00 PM

College of Charleston

Gardner-Webb

Photo by: Ben Clemens

Cougars Open Up Spring Season With Four Road Matches

1/16/2020 5:08:00 PM | Women's Tennis

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's tennis team kick off the 2020 campaign with three days of competition, starting with Gardner-Webb on Friday at 2 p.m. The Cougars face No. 24 Wake Forest on Saturday at 10 a.m. with N.C. A&T State following at 2:30 p.m. before closing the weekend out at ACC powerhouse Clemson on Sunday at noon.

The Cougars
Charleston looks to the leadership of senior Anastasia Palaska and juniors Catalina Medici, Eva Nyikos and Ava Turner in head coach Angelo Anastopoulo 29^th season at the helm of the program. The College graduated 2019 CAA Player of the Year, All-CAA Singles First Team and Doubles First Team member Christi Woodson. However, the Cougars return Woodson's doubles partner, Palaska, who tabbed All-CAA Doubles First Team with fellow teammate Nyikos earning All-CAA Singles Second Team honors in 2019.

CofC finished the 2019 season with an overall record of 15-11 and finished just short of the CAA Championship, after losing in the semifinals to James Madison by a score of 4-1.

Six new faces join the team in the 2019 season. Freshman Slade Coetzee has already showed flashes of the player Anastopoulo aimed to get when he recruited her to come to The College. Coetzee marked the first Cougar in program history to win the top singles flight of both of CofC's home fall tournaments in the same season.

Quotable – Head Coach Angelo Anastopoulo
"We are excited to get the regular season started. We have a talented but young team. Opening weekend will be a great experience for us to get an opportunity to compete against two formidable ACC teams which will be an invaluable experience that should pay dividends as we progress through the season into conference play. Our team worked very hard in the fall and have practiced well in the pre-season. We can't wait to see them compete."

Scouting Gardner-Webb (Fri., 2 p.m. start)
The Bulldogs finished the 2019 season with an overall record of 10-9 and a 6-3 record in Big South play. The all-time series between The College and Gardner-Webb stands at 4-0, in favor of the Cougars, with the most recent matchup ending in a 5-2 win on March 10, 2019.

Scouting Wake Forest (Sat., 10 a.m. start)
Charleston are 0-9 against the Deacon Demons dating back to 2002. Currently ranked at No. 24 in the ITA team rankings, Wake Forest have two singles players ranked nationally alongside two doubles teams that are also recognized by the ITA. Sisters Carolyn Campana and Anna Campana are nationally ranked by ITA at No. 44 and No. 82 in singles, respectively. The Demon Deacons return two key players in Eliza Omirou and MC Meredith.

Scouting N.C. A&T (Sat., 2:30 p.m. start)
The all-time series between The College and NC A&T stands at 3-0 dating back to 2002, in favor of the Cougars, with the most recent matchup resulting in a 7-0 win for CofC on Feb. 18, 2018. The Aggies finished the 2019 campaign with just one win, going 1-16 and 0-4 in MEAC play. They come into the match losing its season opener to Elon by a 7-0 sweep.

Scouting Clemson (Sun., noon start)
Charleston close out the weekends action with a noon matchup on Sunday against the Tigers at the Duckworth Family Classic. The Tigers finished the 2019 season with a 11-15 overall record and a 4-10 ACC record. The Cougars are 0-16 against Clemson dating back to 1999, with the most recent matchup ending in a 4-0 win for the Tigers on Jan. 20, 2019. Clemson boasts a No. 56 ranked duo in Eleni Louka and Sydney Riley.