The UB women's tennis team will rely on a combination of youthful talent and experienced veterans to improve on the 8-11 record they compiled last season and take them to the top of the Mid-American Conference this year.
Last season ended with a first round loss in the MAC Tournament to Toledo, but this year the team hopes to learn from that experience and use it as a building block for this season.
Head Coach Kathy Twist feels that the team has the players and experience it needs to succeed.
"The freshmen from last year should feel more comfortable, like Maggie Nenova and Katrin Fischer. Kristen Ortman is coming along. I have a young team; most of them are either freshmen or sophomores. I've got two new freshmen that are going to be outstanding -- Tina and also Andrea," Twist said. "We're just looking for everyone to start feeling more comfortable as they start playing in this league."
The team goals for this year have to do with mixing their off-court personalities with their on-court performances.
"Team goals for this season are cohesiveness for the team. We also set up the team goal to stay healthy for the entire season; that means getting rest, sleeping and eating well," said Twist. "Also working hard on court and giving 100 percent at practice, so that will show up in our performance when we play."
Nenova, a sophomore, wants the team to improve its consistency this season.
"I think the team should achieve a consistency, first of all, and do our best; I mean we practice hard," Nenova said. "We should just do our best and see what happens," Nenova said.
Junior captain Ortman saw a lot of matches slip away last year that she hopes will go UB's way this season.
"In the spring we lost a lot of 3-4 matches, so hopefully we can turn that around this year," said Ortman.
Leading the team this year will be Ortman, who received the team's Most Improved Award last season, and the team's Most Valuable Player from last year, Nenova.
Nenova had a very impressive freshman campaign, going 18-7 in singles matches and 18-8 in doubles competition. She received two MAC awards for her performance: she was selected to the All- MAC First Team and was honored as the Top Newcomer in the MAC. She became the first women's tennis player from UB to be recognized with MAC awards.
The team will depend on the play of both the veterans, such as Nenova and Ortman, but also the newcomers who will play an integral role in the success of the team.
"The older girls bring steadiness and stability that the team is going to need, and they'll be able to keep everybody's nerves in check when we go away," Twist said. "The younger girls bring energy; it's always a new energy. Andrea is a lefty, so she adds the depth of playing a left handed player. They're all just fun people. We look forward to having a good team."
The toughest matches this year will be against Marshall, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, but Coach Twist said she doesn't care who she plays because each match is an opportunity for her team to improve.
"Marshall and Eastern and Western Michigan are usually the top 3 in the MAC and I expect them to be the same, but I enjoy playing different teams because each team has its own personality. Each team has different kinds of strategies to face us, so each one is just going to make us better," Coach Twist said.
The first test of the season for the Bulls will be at Cleveland State on September 19 and they'll compete at the Bowling Green Invitational on September 24-26.
