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Women’s tennis looks to continue climb

Postby PonyPride » Thu Sep 23, 2021 7:52 pm

From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Women’s Tennis Looks To Continue Climb

By: By Alex Riley | Special to SMUMustangs.com
DALLAS – Athletic programs at every level faced some form of adversity last year, especially as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact sports across the globe.

SMU women's tennis was no stranger to this. But, what third-year coach Jeff Nevolo saw from his players in response was a level of focus and determination coaches often dream of.

"We were fortunate to have a group of student-athletes that were compelled to be successful for one another and had an uncommon commitment to our goals last year," Nevolo said. "It allowed us to play at a higher level as the season went on."

After a 21-10 overall record and an appearance in the ITA Top 40 team rankings last spring, SMU women's tennis returns a bulk of its highest performers while adding some key pieces to the roster. Because of that, Nevolo believes the Mustangs are primed to make even greater strides over the next eight months.

"I think this group has the potential to challenge for a conference championship, which would mean that we're somewhere in the top 25-30 in the nation. That's what it takes to be competitive at the top of our league," Nevolo said.

SMU's 21 wins were the program's highest total since 2011 (23). Along the way, the team knocked off a trio of ITA top 50 foes and earned the No. 2 seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

The work to exceed that performance starts with the fall's invitational season. The Mustangs host the SMU Fall Invite Friday through Sunday, followed by a trio of road trips in Texas, another home event and a visit to South Carolina.

Along the way, SMU will cross paths with players from some of the nation's best programs, giving everyone a chance to see where they stand against elite competition.

"It's always great to see how you measure up against some of those established teams and programs in the fall, Nevolo said, noting that defending national champion Texas and top 35 finishers Baylor, Texas Tech and Texas A&M are all on the list of competitors they could see. "And then, going to South Carolina, we want to test ourselves against a program that's won an SEC Championship and we'll also get to see Michigan and Ohio State, who are perennial contenders for the Big Ten. So we'll test ourselves against teams that are competing at the top 16 level and winning their conference, because that's ultimately what we want to accomplish."

Juniors Hadley Doyle and Jackie Nylander return to set the tone after earning All-AAC honors last spring. They will be bolstered by the addition of grad transfer Lexi Keberle. During her time at Wisconsin, Keberle earned All-Big Ten honors as a freshman after leading the Badgers in wins, finishing with 50 singles victories in two seasons. While at N.C. State, Keberle continued that success, helping the Wolfpack reach the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. Individually, she had 33 victories over the last two years and finished last year ranked No. 83 individually.

The good news for Nevolo is the group has come together very quickly in the preseason work. Now, he's excited to see how they stack up.

"They're all just constantly expressing a desire to improve every single day, and every person on our roster has done that since we started the season. We definitely added some good young talent and some good transfer talent to go along with the great core that we brought back from last year," Nevolo said. "We've got some tough decisions to make, which is a great problem to have."
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