SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 19, 2024) – The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) women's tennis squad is ready for the upcoming 2024 spring season. Dave Watts returns for his second season as head coach.

2022-2023 season recap

The focus in preseason was to field a women's team that was able to compete and create a culture. Watts recruited players prior to the spring season starting and was impressed with how quickly they adapted. "We started the spring season with a good win against Texas A&M University-Texarkana. The players continued to develop leading into the conference tournament at the end of the season. We played the Eagles again and beat them 7-0. We lost in the semifinals to LSU-Alexandria, but I think it was a good building year and it gave us a solid base to work from this upcoming season."

The Saints won seven matches last season. Highlights of the season included facing the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, Georgia Gwinnett College, and defeating NCAA D2 Western New Mexico University 4-3 in a comeback effort. They also swept NCAA D3 Texas Wesleyan University 7-0 in a pair of matches.

Returners and newcomers

Saskia Vogelzang is the lone senior this season. Other returners are Katica Ivic, Ana Ossio and Lucia Popluharova. Vogelzang won six matches in the spring while Ossio tallied 11. Both athletes joined the team last year. Popluharova is ranked No. 9 in both singles and doubles in the most recent ITA rankings for the central region. Vogelzang is ranked No. 9 in doubles in the central region.

Sofia Gonzalez is an incoming junior transfer from Mexico. Freshmen newcomers are Alexandra Mille from France, Angela Pozos Perales from Mexico and Millie Wileman from England.

Schedule

OLLU will play home tennis matches at the Blossom Tennis Center throughout the year. The Saints start the spring season by hosting Jacksonville College on Jan. 26. They play two more home matches against Schreiner University on Feb. 3 and NCAA D1 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) on Feb. 4. OLLU plays at Trinity University on Feb. 9 and hosts NCAA D2 the University of Texas Permian Basin on Feb. 10. The Saints will head out to the Georgia Gwinnett Tournament starting on Feb. 15. The team will battle Cumberlands on Feb. 15, Union on Feb. 16 and Savannah College of Art and Design on Feb. 17 in Lawrenceville, Ga.

The team will return home for a match against Texas Lutheran University on Feb. 23. They will head out to Georgetown, Texas, for a match against Texas Wesleyan University on Feb. 28. The Saints will return home for seven straight home matches from March 2-15 against NCAA D2 St. Mary's University, University of St. Mary, NJCAA Weatherford College, Friends University, Bethel College and Missouri Baptist University. After a match against NCAA D2 Dallas Baptist University on March 29, the Saints will travel to Alexandria, La., for matches against Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, LSU-Alexandria and LSU-Shreveport from April 4-9. The regular season will conclude with a match against NCAA D3 Southwestern University at home on April 12.

The Saints will host the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Championships from April 25-28. Louisiana Christian University, LSUA, LSUS, TAMUT and XULA will compete in the tournament. Xavier won the championship last season over LSUA. The NAIA National Championships will be in Mobile, Ala., at the Mobile Tennis Center from May 14-18.

Fan expectations

Saints fans are encouraged to support the team at the Blossom Tennis Center this season. Watts said, "Blossom Tennis Center is a great place to watch tennis and there will be exciting matches this year. We play high level tennis, and we would love for everybody to come out. We play Friday evening matches and those have great energy."

Hear from Head Coach Dave Watts