SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 17
Idaho at Washington State, 5:00 p.m. PT
Saturday, Jan. 18
Idaho vs. Montana State, 9:00 a.m. PT
Air Force at Seattle U, 3:30 p.m. PT
Texas-Pan American at No. 19 Baylor, 6:30 p.m. CT
Air Force at Seattle U, 7:00 p.m. PT
TEAM RECAPS
CHICAGO STATE
Chicago State will open the 2014 portion of its schedule on Jan. 24 at Detroit and follows that up on Jan. 25 with a trip to Western Michigan ... the Chicago State tennis program added Javier Bernabe as an assistant coach this year ... Bernabe spent the previous three seasons as an assistant at Northern Illinois and played tennis at NIU ... senior Karyn Emeralda was recognized by the Chicago State Office of International Programs for her work as an international student who had a GPA over 3.50 ... Emeralda and sophomore Marine Perez-Ochoa return to the court after not playing in the fall because of injuries ... the two tied for the team lead last season in singles wins (12), while Perez-Ochoa led the team with 11 doubles victories ... the team hosted the inaugural Cougar Invitational this fall featuring Bradley, Lewis, Northern Illinois, University of Chicago, South Dakota and UW-Green Bay.
GRAND CANYON
Grand Canyon will embark on its first Division I and WAC season this year ... GCU had several impressive performances this fall ... Janaki Gunuganti advanced to the consolation semifinals of the ITA Championships ... Alexandra Petrzalkova and Priscilla Annoual claimed their respective bracket singles finals of the Balloon Fest in Albuquerque, N.M. ... Alexandra Petrzalkova and Priscilla Annoual earned each today Western Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Month honors this fall ... the ‘Lopes open the dual portion of the schedule on Jan. 31 at New Mexico.
IDAHO
Idaho will open the 2014 portion of its schedule on Friday, facing Washington State ... the Vandals will face Montana State on Saturday to conclude the opening weekend ... after a 3-7 start in 2013, the Vandals went 10-5 to finish the season with a winning record ... Idaho’s Victoria Lozano earned WAC Player of the Month honors in October after going a combined 12-3 in singles and doubles play during the month ... Idaho brings a combined 14 seasons of experience back to its roster for 2014 with its eight players ... seven of the eight are returnees, while freshman Galina Bykova is the lone newcomer after joining the team starting in the fall of 2013.
KANSAS CITY
The Kansas City women’s tennis team begins dual play on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25, hosing Baker and William Jewell, respectively ... UMKC appeared in the conference tournament championship match last season for the second time ever (Summit League) ... the ‘Roos will have to overcome the loss of three of the four winningest players in school history, and two all-conference performers ... the ‘Roos lost three starters, and will have 2-3 newcomers entering the lineup this season.
NEW MEXICO STATE
New Mexico State open the 2014 dual season on Feb. 2 on the road at Arizona and will then play San Francisco the following day ... Denise Van Der Ben advanced to the third round of singles play at the 2013 edition of the ITA Mountain Regional tournament, before falling to No. 41 Lucia Batta of UNLV ... junior Susana Alcaraz, sophomore Mia Brandt, and freshman Brittany Collens all won a tournament bracket during fall competition.
SEATTLE U
Seattle will open the dual portion of its schedule on Saturday with a doubleheader against Air Force ... Kristen James and Corinne Wurden won the white flight doubles bracket at the Jack Taylor Classic, the team’s first tournament of the season, hosted by Boise State in Sept. 2013 ... there are five newcomers on the women’s team this year: Barbara Carey, Samantha Garrard, Jacqueline Jacques, Kailyn Skjonsby, and Kelli Woodman.
TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN
The Broncs return four players from last season’s squad in senior Wanda Beguelin and sophomores Didi Fatchikova, Reegan Greenwood and Julia Perez ... Beguelin led the Broncs with eight dual match wins while also teaming up Fatchikova to post a 7-3 doubles record ... newcomer and freshman Mariana Ranzahuer led the Broncs in the fall with five wins ... the Broncs open their spring season on Saturday in Waco against Baylor at 6:30 p.m.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES
The 2014 WAC Tennis Tournament will be held April 25-27 in Las Cruces, N.M. The WAC conference championship will be up for grabs, as last year’s champions, San Jose State, has since departed the WAC.