By Andrew Krumme
After a three-month layover from the fall season, the U of L men’s and women’s tennis programs are ready to hit the courts.
In fact, the men’s team already has. The Cards opened the spring season Friday with a doubleheader sweep of both Murray State and Wright State here in Louisville. The two 7-0 victories extended the men’s winning streak at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center to 30 matches.
“We had two comfortable wins and a lot of guys contributed to both wins. This experience will be good for us in future matches,” said U of L assistant coach Mark Beckham. “We have a tough schedule ahead and it was good to see the level of our guys and how they are playing. We’ll see very soon where we stand against nationally ranked teams.”
The Cardinals (2-0), are currently ranked No. 39 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and will travel to Tulsa, Okla., where they will face No. 60 Tulsa on Saturday and No. 32 Oklahoma State on Sunday.
Other dates to look forward to include the Feb. 9 trip to Lexington to take on the Wildcats. Trips to Bloomington, the C-USA Shootout in Ft. Worth, and a home match with Michigan State are some other intriguing matches the Cards are looking forward to this season.
Head men’s coach Rex Ecarma and his squad will end the season with the conference tournament in Charlotte at the end of April and then another possible NCAA appearance at the beginning of May.
Ecarma has a solid group that has received several honors within the past month. Sophomores Damar Johnson and senior Octavian Nicodim earned honors among the Midwest regional area for their exceptional singles play. The two doubles teams, Slavako Radman and Jeremy Clark, along with Mark Kennedy and Jhonny Berrido, were ranked in the top 15 among the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Midwest Region.
The women’s team has also come off a strong spring campaign. After a solid showing in the Roberta Alison Invitational last September, the women finished out the fall season with appearances in the UK and Northwestern Invitational and the ITA Regional in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Overall, this has been most successful fall season any of my teams have had. We are hoping that it will lead to a successful spring season,” said head women’s coach Greg Davis.
Strong play from sophomore Natalie Laszkowski in the singles and doubles spot gives the women’s team a solid chance going into the spring term. Kelley Taylor also looks to be another power for the Cards in the singles division, while Robyn White and Ariana Marshall look to be a formidable doubles duo.
The women’s team opened up their spring campaign against Butler and the Miami Redhawks. Results of the game, however, were unavailable at press time.
Other match-ups to look forward to this season include the always-anticipated match against state rival UK on Sunday and trips to Missouri and Cincinnati. The Cardinals will close out their season on April 16 against DePaul at home.
