LARAMIE, Wyo. (Sept. 27, 2017) – The Wyoming tennis team will open its 2017 fall season this weekend by hosting the Wyoming Invite beginning on Friday while three individuals will participate in the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championship in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
“The ladies are excited to get out and play,†head coach Dean Clower said. “They’ve been practicing hard for several weeks and it will be nice to look at someone different across the net. Maggie (Stencel), Tessa (van Der Ploeg) and Elisa (Koonik) earned the opportunity to play at the ITA All-American which will help in their progress through the rankings.â€
The duo of Elisa Koonik and Tessa van Der Ploeg earned a spot in the qualifying doubles draw beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 3. Koonik and van Der Ploeg went 19-7 overall and 5-0 in MW play, while each posting 19 singles wins a season ago. Senior Magdalena Stencel received an invitation to play in the pre-qualifying singles which starts on Saturday. She went 13-12 a season ago on her way to her third All-MW selection in 2017.
The Cowgirls welcome back five starters and six letterwinners to a team that posted an 18-4 overall record and a 5-0 mark in MW action a year ago. The 18 wins was a program best and the 5-0 mark is the second time in school history to go undefeated. It’s the eighth straight season the Cowgirls have recorded double-digits wins. Two doubles teams were ranked during the season for the first time ever. The team went a perfect 10-0 at home and recorded a nine-match winning streak. Four individuals were selected All-Conference and two doubles teams were ranked during the season.
Entering his seventh season at the helm, head coach Dean Clower has an overall mark of 79-50 and a 26-9 record in league play. At least two individuals have earned All-Conference honors in each of his six years including this season.
Several individuals will be looked upon to help the Cowgirls in 2017-18 including sophomores Imogen Clews, Ana Tkachenko and Milka Genkova. Tkachenko sported an impressive 22-6 singles record and 21-10 in doubles as a freshman. Genkova won 19 singles matches, while Clews had eight victories in limited action. There are also two newcomers to the squad who hope to contribute to the team in Harsha Challa and Myiah Scott. The squad is composed of one senior, two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.
Wyoming will compete in three more tournaments following this weekend. It will be at the Colorado State Invite, Oct. 6-8, the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament, Oct. 11-15, in Salt Lake City and the Red and Blue Challenge, Nov. 3-5, in Dallas. The spring schedule begins on the road at the Hurricane Invite in Tulsa. UW’s first conference match will be Friday, March 30 against Boise State.
