Tennis kicks off season this weekend with Caltech
ORANGE, Calif. – Both the Chapman University men’s
and women’s tennis teams get their season underway this
weekend as they travel to Caltech for their first matches of 2012.
The women play Caltech on Friday at 2 p.m. while the men play
Saturday at the same time.
After a 3-11 season in 2011, the men’s team looks to bounce
back with a more experienced team that has four of its top six
players back from a year ago. Sophomore Andre Herd
once again will anchor the top singles spot for the Panthers.
Other top returners for the men are junior Dylan Tevlin, senior Alex Klein and sophomore Chris Williams. Klein had the best singles record for the Panthers last season going 6-6 with five of those wins coming in the No.5 and No. 6 position. Tevlin finished with a 6-12 record. Newcomers Justin Thompson and Kyle Coates are expected to step in and play an important role as well.
On the women’s side, all six of this year’s top
players were on last year’s squad which finished as the No.
15 ranked team in the country after a run to the second round of
the NCAA Division III West Regionals which ended with a loss to
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Despite having its top six players back,
questions remain for the 18th-ranked Panthers with the
loss of All-American duo Liz Lewis and Kelley Fox to
graduation.
This season, a pair of juniors in Danielle Kaiden
and Genna Ford are expected to fill the void left
by Lewis and Fox in the top two spots. Both Kaiden and Ford had
impressive seasons in 2011, combining to go 27-11 in singles play
while earning victories in the Panthers’ first round NCAA win
over Grinnell. Junior Amy Logan, senior
Melissa Boyer, senior Cassidy
Sirois and sophomore Kelley Klebenow
round out the top six for Chapman.
Once again this season, both squads will have to overcome a tough schedule which includes eight ranked teams for the women and nine for the men.
by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant
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