At the conclusion of the 2018-2019 season, the Javelina Women’s Tennis squad showcased their talent by finishing third in the Lone Star Conference and 29th in the nation overall.
With a couple of key student-athletes graduating and considering the merging of the Lone Star Conference (LSC) and the Heartland Conference, it is normal for some to think they cannot get back to usual form. However, Head Coach Autumn Wollenzien would like to exceed all standards and goals.
“We have expectations of ourselves to do better than last season and to do this we have to be better teammates,” Wollenzien said.
With the Heartland Conference now merging with the LSC, competition is stiffer now more than ever. But, Wollenzien sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate the team’s excellence.
“The merger brings a new environment to the year and season. We normally don’t play those teams until Regionals but now we’re playing them in Conference,” Wollenzien said. “But we’re excited for the merger, we were third in the Conference before and we want to continue to show high levels of play even with the other teams added.”
Wollenzien makes note of senior Victoria Romanovskaia, who was an All-LSC Honorable Mention in singles in the 2018-2019 season. With the season right around the corner, she is more than ready to play in her final season.
“I am very excited for this upcoming season. With me being a senior, I feel very experienced coming into this season and I’m expecting a lot of great things from myself and the team overall,” Romanovskaia said.
“We have two new freshmen on the team and I am more than thrilled to see what they can do and what they can contribute to the team as a whole,” she added.
The Javelina Tennis team opened the season Monday, Feb. 3 with an impressive 5-2 victory over the Panthers of Prairie View A&M University at home.
After three straight doubles losses to the Panthers, Romanovskaia kicked off the singles party with a 6-2, 6-2 sweep of Jimena Duran-Castellanos. Senior Stephanie Baerman tacked on another win for the Javelinas with a victory over Anette Lira. Sophomore Maya Donkor and Senior Valerie Ruiz also picked up 6-1, 6-3 and 6-4, 6-3 victories, respectively.
The next two match ups for the Javelinas are against Division-1 programs. On Feb. 6, they battle the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Isanders in Corpus Christi. Sixteen days later they travel to Edinburg to take on UT Rio Grande Valley.