Even though the weather in Colorado this spring has been crazy, it has not stopped both the men’s and women’s tennis teams from hitting the “green-top”.
After a down year for both the men’s and women’s programs last Spring, players and coaches expressed optimism about the start of this season.
“From last year, our coach brought in a lot of new, talented freshmen and so I’d say our expectations are definitely higher,” redshirt junior Tyler Landen said.
This year’s squad envisions to be contending in their conference and to maybe even make a splash in the national rankings.
“[We want] to be one of the top teams in one of the hardest D2 tennis conferences in the country, the Pac West Conference, which typically has five top 25 teams ranked in the country,” men’s and women’s head coach Dan MacDonald said.
Interestingly, both men’s and women’s teams compete in the PacWest Conference which consists of schools from around the West Coast like Azusa Pacific University, Hawai’i Pacific University, and Point Loma University.
This year, the men’s tennis team is led by veterans Tyler Landen, redshirt junior Jandre Van Wyk, and junior Jorge Abreu. Overall the men have had an excellent start to the season so far going 4-0 at the Kearney indoor invite, and 1-2 in Phoenix, Az with both of the losses by a score of 3-4. Overall, the men’s team has already hit their win total from last season with a 5-7 record.
“Men’s fall season and off-season were very successful. In college tennis we actually compete in open tournaments during the fall,” head coach Dan MacDonald said.
A name to look out for on the men’s side is Tyler Landen who excelled during the biggest tournament of the fall, the West ITA Singles/Doubles Championship, making it to the round of 16 in the singles event.
“I like the individuality about tennis. I like that it’s all on you,” Landen said.
Currently, Landen is the 14th ranked singles player in the West Region, while the duo of him and teammate freshman William Leschig are ranked eighth in the doubles category.
The women’s tennis team is led by redshirt junior Halle Romero, and juniors Issy Coman and Julianna Campos. The women’s team has also been off to a great start to the year, as they went 1-2 at the Kearney indoor invite and 2-1 in Phoenix, Az.
Sophomore Makenna Livingston also made the round of 16 in singles last Oct. Livingston’s early success pushed her into the regional rankings, as she sits at 10th in the singles category and 6th in the doubles rankings with her teammate Coman.
Similar to the men’s team, the women expect to be one of the top competitors in the West after finishing with a 12-15 record last year.
“Last year, we got into the conference tournament in the last first round. So I think definitely we’re going to try to put up a better fight in the conference tournament,” sophomore Paige Furin said.
“[I want] to just be better than last season and constantly being better than I was before,” Campos said, “I like all of it. It’s really fun. Keeps you in shape and you get to meet a ton of amazing people”.
Sophomore Macy Richards who plays number three singles was asked about her favorite part about tennis.
“I love that it’s a combination of individual and team sport. I can play by myself but I’m also working to win with the team,” Richards said.
The women went 1-2 during the Kearney Indoor Duals in Nebraska against tough opponents such as Nebraska-Kearney University and Augustana University, who are receiving votes to be nationally ranked.
The women then rebounded and went 2-1 during the Phoenix duals a week after. Overall, the women sit at 4-8 but will have plenty of opportunities for some more wins with 12 duals remaining before the PacWest Tournament.
Fans can catch both the men’s and women’s tennis teams at home this season on April 8th and April 15th when they host Colorado College, CSU Pueblo, and MSU Denver.