Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst Women's Tennis begins their season this weekend in the Bloomsburg Invitational in Bloomsburg, Pa. The team looks to start the 2022-23 campaign off the right way as they look to make another run at the NCAA Tournament.
1. Steady Success
The Lakers have seen their win totals go up every year since the 2019-20 campaign with them coming away with nine wins in the 2021-22 season. They will look to continue that trend this year and record their first double-digit win season since the 2018-19 campaign when Mercyhurst won 18 matches and claimed the PSAC Championship.
2. Looking to Go Deep
The Lakers put together a solid run down the stretch of last season which helped them find their way into the NCAA Tournament. Mercyhurst has gotten used to finding their way into the national tournament as they've made it eight times over the past decade. In that span, the team has gone 8-8 with them making it to the final site once.
3. Familiar Faces
The Lakers look to build off the success that they had last season with their returning core. Kayla Dean comes back for her sophomore campaign, looking to top a phenomenal freshman effort. Dean was named the PSAC Rookie of the Year in 2021-22 while being named a All-PSAC honoree in both singles and doubles as well. She is joined by Roisin Murphy who made it a PSAC West Doubles Second Team member and senior Nadja Ostojic who finished last season with 10 wins in both singles and doubles play when being named an all-conference second team member in singles.
4. Freshmen Inbound
Mercyhurst retains the majority of their talent from last season with only two newcomers joining the team for the 2022-23 season. Head coach Jerome Simon found whom he was looking for and added Kiersten Brown and Uliana Nedelko to the fold. After seeing the likes of Kayla Dean and Sara Betolez Puente have so much success last season in their debut campaigns, the two newcomers will look to do the same this time around.
5. What's Next
The Lakers will turn around and head back to Bloomsburg next weekend as well as they are set to compete in the ITA Atlantic Regional Tournament beginning on Friday, September 16th, with things wrapping up on Monday the 19th.
